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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


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EXCURSIONS    IN    LIBRARIA 


EXCURSIONS  IN  LIBRARIA 

BEING  RETROSPECTIVE  REVIEWS  AND 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES  BY  G.  H. 
POWELL 


"For  books,  we  know, 
Are  a  substantial  world." — Wordsworth. 


New  York 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

I53~I57    FIFTH    AVENUE 
1896 


KiCHARD  Clay  and  Sons,  Limited, 

LONDON  AND  BUNGAY. 


loo\ 


Of  the  papers  which  follow  the  first  is  reprinted  from  Macmilian's 
ulMagaztne  ("A  Discourse  of  Rare  Books,"  July,  1893),  and  the  last,  in 
^art,  from  the  Fall  Mall  Magazine  (February,  1895),  with  the  kind 
^permission   of  the   respective  proprietors.     Both   articles   are  here 

j)resented  in  a  revised  and  enlarged  form,  the  latter,  in  fact,  having 

Jbeen  entirely  rewritten. 


4333S4 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/excursionsinlibrOOpoweiala 


PREFACE 

Some  apology  may  be  necessary  for  offering  to  the  public, 
so  abundantly  supplied  of  late  years  with  "  books  about 
books,"  another  volume  which  can  hardly  help  falling  into  that 
category.  The  present  work,  however,  addresses  itself  (with 
all  the  misgivings  of  a  first  venture)  rather  to  the  humane 
interests  of  the  general  reader,  than  to  what  may  respectfully 
be  called  the  refined  curiosities  of  the  bibliophile,  to  the 
collector  of  books,  that  is,  as  books,  and  not  as  antiquities  or 
objects  of  exoteric  virtu}  in  fine,  to  the  bookbuyer  who  is 
also,  and  by  virtue  of  his  office,  a  "  voracious  "  reader,  even  if 
he  be  not  one  of  those 

'*  Biblicr\^\^'X'g\,  or  men  whose  heads 
Do  grow  beneath  their  shoulders  " 

from  excessive  application  to  study.  "  Excursions,"  in 
Libraria  or  elsewhere,  do  not  profess  to  be  explorations,  or  to 
serve  any  serious  industrial  demand,  although  (within  their 
inevitable  limits)  the  notes  de  voyage  of  one  tourist  may  have 
a  certain  use  and  interest  for  others.     This  is  the  only  excuse 

^  See  Ch.  I.,  pp.  15  and  31. 


viii  PREFACE 

for  publishing  a  selection  of  those  "  marked  passages "  and 
"  marginal  (or  flyleaf)  notes "  which  accumulate  during  the 
unconscious  labour  of  love  expended  in  years  of  book- 
collecting. 

Two  or  three  of  the  chapters  that  follow  might  be  described 
as  sketches  of  "  periods "  or  of  "  lost  points  of  view,"  illus- 
trated from  contemporary  sources  of  the  fourteenth,  the 
sixteenth,  and  the  eighteenth  centuries  respectively.  The 
Gascon  Tragedy  and  the  Pirate's  Paradise  rehearse  more  or 
less  well-known  romances  of  history.  In  the  longer  essay 
on  memoirs,  and  in  those  dealing  with  rare  books  (or  rather 
the  principles  which  govern  the  practice  of  book-buying),  and 
with  early  mythological  literature,  a  conscientious  if  mis- 
guided attempt  has  been  made  to  present — in  an  inevitably 
discursive  fashion,  but  with  some  sense  of  proportion — a 
general  survey  (from  the  point  of  view  of  the  practical  reader 
and  collector),  of  a  larger  province  of  that  "  world  of  books  " 
which,  if  not  always  as  "  pure  and  good "  as  the  poetry  of 
Mr. Wordsworth,  is  at  least  always  human. 

The  insertion  throughout  the  latter  chapters  of  so  many 
dates  and  parenthetical  details  will,  I  hope,  be  excused  by 
readers  who  have  these  things  at  their  fingers'  ends,  in  con- 
sideration of  those  who,  like  the  author,  hanker  after  chrono- 
logical landmarks  along  the  highroads  of — 

"  The  dusty  travelled  past." 

With  regard  to  the  criticisms  and  descriptions  of  books 
(old  or  modern),  which  occupy  almost  all  the  notes  and  a  great 
part  of  the  text  of  this  volume,  I  need  only  say  that  the 
works  familiarly  cited  and  quoted  are  almost  all  in  my  own 
possession.      These   comprise   possibly   a   few   "out   of    the 


PREFACE  ix 

way"  books,  and  one  or  two  such  as  are  commonly  called 
"rare,"  and  might  not  be  found  even  in  reputable  libraries. 
But  I  have  not,  except  in  the  first  chapter,  referred  to  any 
work  except  on  the  ground  that  it  was  (to  persons  debarred 
from  purchasing  a  more  modern  or  more  expensive  edition) 
at  least  worth  having,  for  reasons  more  fully  diagnosed  in 
the  text. 

In  estimating  the  importance  of  form  and  typography  as 
affecting  the  question  whether  the  average  individual  is  likely 
to  read  a  book  with  pleasure  or  profit,  or  even  to  read  it  at 
all,  and  the  considerable  proportion  of  "  old  books  "  periodi- 
cally in  danger  of  being  slighted  or  forgotten  by  all  but  their 
actual  custodians,  there  is  sometimes  a  danger  of  confounding 
human  (that  is  historical,  or  literary)  and  merely  "  bookish " 
interest.  In  regard  to  the  former,  I  have  spared  the  reader 
no  reference  to  any  original  work  likely  to  rojuse  his  interest 
or  curiosity,  though  I  fear  I  cannot  add — his  envy  or 
regret. 

Notes  and  references  have  thus,  in  spite  of  every  desire  to 
exclude  vanities  and  repetitions,  swelled  to  such  a  bulk,  that 
the  only  excusable  addition  seemed  an  index,  which  is  offered 
as  an  apology  for  the  digressions  of  which  several  chapters 
are  largely  composed. 

The  "we"  of  the  retrospective  reviewer,  inextricably  em- 
bedded in  the  one  long  bibliographical  article  which  has 
already  appeared  in  print,  has  been  allowed  to  permeate  the 
text  with  no  further  idea  than  that  of  associating  the  reader 
in  an  amicable  "  voyage  autour  d'une  bibliotheque  choisie,"  of 
which  imagination  and  the  proximity  of  Bloomsbury  have 
slightly  extended  the  bounds. 

Of  the  ornaments,  devices,  etc.,  with  which  my  publishers 


X  PREFACE 

have  illustrated  the  more  specially  bibliographical  chapters  of 
the  book,  the  greater  part  are  taken  from  works,  chiefly  of 
the  sixteenth  century,^  in  my  own  collection. 

To  these  memoranda  of  cherished  possessions  and  respected 
printers  may  be  added  the  woodcut  on  p.  40,  the  "  brasse 
plate  "  from  Pagitt's  HeresiograpJiy,  and  a  portrait  of  Voltaire, 
with  which  I  hope  some  readers  may  be  unacquainted.  For 
the  more  remarkable  reproduction  from  the  Directorium  vitcE 
JiuviancB  (1480),  which  forms  the  frontispiece  to  the  chapter 
on  mythology,  and  the  exquisite  little  woodcut  from  the 
Dyalogus  creaturarum  of  the  same  date  ;  as  for  those  taken 
from  the  (equally  rare)  Verard  edition  of  the  Comte  de  Foix's 
Book  on  Field  Sports,  and  the  plate  from  Exquemelin's 
Buccaneers,  recourse  has  been  had  to  the  treasure-house  of 
the  British  Museum,  and  to  the  unfailing  kindness  and 
courtesy  of  its  officials. 

G.  H.  Powell. 

2  Thanet  Place,  Strand, 
September  ^th,  1895. 

'  See  pp.  36  and  77. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE Vii 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS,  &C xiii 

I.  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF    RARITY I 

II.   A  GASCON  TRAGEDY  (14TH  CENTURY) 49 

III.  A   SHELF  OF  OLD    STORY  BOOKS 

I.  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH 77 

II.   AN   IMPROVING  WORK lOO 

IV.  THE  PIRATES'   PARADISE   (1740) 121 

V,   A  MEDLEY  OF  MEMOIRS I49 

VI.  WITH   RABELAIS  AT  ROME  (1536) 207 

VII.   THE  WIT  OF   HISTORY 229 

INDEX 261 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Woodcut  (Scholars  in  a  Library)  from  a  rare  edition  of  Sallust.    8vo. 

Lyons,  1509 2 

Device  of  Sebast.  Gryphius,  from  5^d?lc/^// ^//V/'«»/<z'.  8vo.  1554       .  7 

Device  of  Ant.  Gryphius  from  a  iT/a<rr<7<5/«j.  i2mo.  1585    ...  7 

Device  of  J.  Oporinus  of  Basle 8 

Device  of  Plantin-Moretus  Press  (2) 9 

Device  of  Nic.  de  Sabio,  from  the  grammar  of  Constantine  Lascaris. 

8vo.  1539 17 

Variant  of  the  same  (from  last  leaf  of  the  same  volume),  with  auto- 
graph of  Estienne  Baluze 18 

Device  from  Pistole  Vulgari  di  N.  Franco  ap.  Ant.  Gardanum.     1 542      23 

From  Title-page  of  Francesco  Guicciardini  gli  ultimi  quatiro  libri, 
ed.  Papirio  Picedi  (not  a  common  edition),  ap.  Seth  Viotto. 
Parma,  4to,  1572 29 


xiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Device  of  Guillaume  Morel.    1 562 36 


Woodcut  from  Amadis  de  Gaule  (French  translation  by  Ant.  Tyron. 

4to.     Lyons,  1574) 39 

Device  of  Antoine  Estienne  (1631) 41 

Woodcut  from  the  Comte  de  Foix's  Deduicts  de  la  Chasse  des  Bestes 

(printed  by  Ant.  Vdrard,  1 507) 48 

Device  from   Title-page  of   the   Chronicles   of   Froissart,  edition 

published  by  Jan  de  Tournes.     3  vols.  Folio.  Lyon,  1559-60-61  50 

Woodcut  from  De  Foix's  Deduicts  de  la  Chasse 74 

Woodcut  from  the  Directorium  humane  vite.     1480    ....  76 

'^Qodi.cyxX.iroxa.i^a.t.  Dyalogus  creaturarum.     1480         ....  99 

'^\siX.&  {xoxa.  Y.yiG^'NCi^vi^s  History  of  the  Buccaneers.     4to.     1678  122 

Tail-piece  of  Jacob  Tonson's  (1725) 148 

Ornamental  Title-page  from  Gaguin's  Compendium  de  gestis  Fran- 

corum.     1514 150 

Device  for  Title-page  of  Delibatio  Historice  AfricancB.  8vo.  1569   .  164 

Device  from  Title-page  of  Mathieu's  Histoire  des  demilrs  troubles^ 

etc.    (1610) 174 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 

PAGE 

Device  from  Title-page  of  P.  V.  de  Cayet's  Chronologie  Septenaire 

(1607) 174 

Device  from  Title  of  Ludov.  Guicciardini's  Hist,  of  Wars  in  Low 

Countries.  410,  1565 176 

Device  from  Title  of  Elzevirian  Edition  of  Bentivoglio's  Hist,  of 

War  in  Flanders 180 

Vox\.x2:\\.o{'Y.\fnxiQX^{xoYa.Pagitt''s  Hcresiography.  8vo.  1662.        .    188 

Portrait  of  Voltaire,  from  his  i>/'/'r^j /w/rt'/Z^j.  8vo.  1818.    .       .       .195 

Device  of  Sebastian  Gryphius,  from  Hieronymi  vidce poemata.     8vo. 

Lugduni.     1536 221 

The  Initial  Letters  of  the  Chapters  are  reduced  from  the  Froissart 
printed  by  Jan  de  Tournes  (described  on  p.  49),  all  but  that  prefixed 
to  Chap.  IV.,  which  is  from  the  Dialoghi  piacevoli  di  N.  Franco  (as 
to  whom  see  p.  22).     Gioliti :  in  Venetia.  8vo.  1542. 


I. 

THE   PHILOSOPHY  OF   RARITY. 


Woodcut  of  scholars  in  a  library  (exhibiting  the  early  method  of  arranging  books)  from  a  very 
rare  edition  of  Sallust,  sm.  8vo.  Lyons,  s.  a.  (ipog),  discovered  for  me  by  the  kindness  of  Mr. 
Pollard,  of  the  British  Museum.     (Grenville  Library,  C.  8,  f.  14.) 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   RARITY. 


' '  He  peeped  into  a  rich  bookseller's  shop, 
Quoth  he,  '  We  are  both  of  one  college  '  ! 
For  I  sate  myself,  like  a  cormorant,  once 
Hard  by  the  tree  of  knowledge." 

Colerid'^e. 


—'■■■■-  "-a 


HE  noble  industry  and  royal  sport  of  book-hunting 
may  safely  be  asserted  to  be  as  old  as  literature — 
as  literature,  that  is,  inscribed  upon  any  material 
more  portable  than  that  of  the  Rosetta  stone. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  feel  sure  that  the  earHest 
papyrus  ever  marked  by  human  hand  was  not  immediately  afterwards 
destroyed  by  the  rivalry  of  would-be  proprietors,  and  as  soon  as  the 
first  "  book  "  came  into  existence  nothing  short  of  a  military  despo- 
tism can  have  preserved  it  in  the  possession  of  a  single  owner.  The 
gossiping  Aulus  Gellius  has  handed  down  the  tradition  of  Aristotle's 
extravagance  at  the  sale  of  Speusippus,  and  Plato's  unjustifiable 
purchase  (so  severely  criticised  by  Timon)  of  a  particular  work  of 
Philolaus  the  Pythagorean.  Such  collectors  truly  held  to  the  motto 
of  our  own  philobiblical  Richard  de  Bury  (to  whom  the  story  of  the 
Sibylline  leaves  suggested  a  moral  for  the  auction-room)  "  Libri  non 
librae."     The  passion,  growing  by  what  it  fed  on,  raged  desperately 


4  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

in  the  middle  ages.  Pope  Sylvester  II.  had,  in  the  tenth  century, 
to  borrow  so  simple  a  work  as  Csesar,  in  return  for  eight  volumes  of 
Boethius  on  Astrology,  and  three  hundred  years  later  Roger  Bacon 
complained  that  he  could  not  get  even  a  minor  work  of  Cicero  for 
love  or  money  And  it  reached  a  triumphant  crisis  at  the  dawn  of 
the  Renaissance,  when  one  of  the  most  immortal  classics  might  be 
looked  for  and  found  "at  the  bottom  of  a  disused  well"  (or 
wherever  it  was  that  Bracciolini  discovered  the  Quintilian),  and  his. 
learned  rival  Aurispa  could  return  from  a  single  book-hunting 
expedition  laden  with  238  ancient  manuscripts,  containing  all  the 
works  of  Plato,  Xenophon,  Arrian,  and  Diodorus  Siculus,  the 
Geography  of  Strabo,  and  the  Poems  of  Pindar. 

Such  were  the  "rarities"  of  those  golden  days;  and  comparing 
them  with  the  works,  or  rather  things,  most  sought  after  in  our  own, 
we  might  be  disposed  to  think  that  the  age  of  true  "  book-hunting  "" 
was  no  more ;  nay,  when  we  contemplate  catalogues  crowded  with 
really  classical  items  (ancient  or  modern)  labelled  selten,  rarissimo, 
introuvable,  and  unique,  we  may  be  moved  to  ask  indignantly,  what 
has  posterity — the  posterity  of  the  fifteenth  century — done,  since 
that  date,  but  lose  or  damage  the  works  it  should  have  taken  most 
care  of? 

But  this  would  be  a  harsh  judgment,  for  posterity,  including 
the  nineteenth  century,  has  had  so  many  more  things  to  think 
about. 

And  though  we  can  never  hope  to  make  such  "finds  "  as  did  the 
agents  of  Lorenzo  the  magnificent,  the  process  of  discovery,  and  re- 
discovery is  as  eternal  as  the  art  and  mystery  of  losing  books. 

Thus  the  "Philosophy"  we  here  struggle  to  expound  is  but  the 
craft  and  "  venerie  "  of  the  book-hunter. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  that  as  the  mere  unfrequent 
occurrence  of  a  phenomenon  is  no  index  of  its  importance,  so  the 
fact  that  a  particular  book,  or  any  other  given  chattel,  is  seldom  to 
be  seen  is  no   evidence  of  its  intrinsic  value — should  in  fact  be 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  5 

rather  the  reverse,  proportionately  to  our  belief  in  the  intelligence 
of  mankind,  although  the  rarity  of  a  book,  again,  must  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  it. 

This  whole  subject  is  excellently  treated  in  the  "Axiomata 
Specialia"  prefixed  to  that  interesting  and.  not  very  common  work 
of  reference,  Vogt's  Catalogus  Historico-Criticus  Librorum  Rariorum 
(fourth  enlarged  edition,  8vo,  Frankfort,  1793).  Prefacing  the  dis- 
cussion with  the  remark  that  rarity  is  by  itself  no  proof  of  value 
(some  of  the  worst  and  some  of  the  most  worthless  books  being  the 
most  difficult  to  procure),  he  and  his  editors  classify  "rare  books" 
under  a  copious  variety  of  headings  which  we  shall  not  here  attempt 
to  exhaust. 

First  and  foremost  in  any  such  attempted  classification  would,  ot 
course,  be  ranked  early  works  dating  from  the  invention  of  printing 
to  about  1520  or  1530.  The  casual  reader  may  here  be  reminded 
that  what  is  commonly  believed  to  be  the  first  book  printed  is  the 
magnificent  edition  of  the  Vulgate  known  (since  its  rediscovery  in 
the  Mazarine  Library  by  De  Bure  in  the  last  century)  as  the  42  line 
"  Mazarine "  Bible,  the  "  Hopetoun "  copy  of  which  (Sir  John 
Thorold's  brought  ;^3,9oo)  was  recently  sold  to  Mr.  Quaritch  for 
;^2,ooo,  and  is  duly  described  in  his  catalogue  as  produced  at 
Maintz  before  1456.  It  has  indeed  been  assigned  to  1450,  or  1454  ; 
and  a  copy  is  to  be  seen  among  the  specimens  of  early  printing  in  the 
British  Museum.  From  the  conclusion  of  the  aforesaid  period  every 
decade  that  one  recedes  the  volumes  pertaining  thereto  naturally  rise 
in  price  by  something  like  geometrical  progression,  and  to  go  back 
further,  "Block-books,"  which  flourish  from  1440  to  1480  or  there- 
abouts, and  do  not  trouble  the  bibliophile  much  upon  his  daily 
rounds,  must  all  be  described  as  tolerably  rare,  since  only  about  100 
are  known  to  exist.^  Yet  of  recent  years,  owing  to  the  dispersal  of 
so  many  large  libraries,  books  of  the  fifteenth  century  have  been  at 
times  almost  a  drug  in  the  market.  A  folio  volume  bound  in  such 
^  Gordon  Duff,  Early  Printed  Books,  1893. 


6  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

pigskin  as  the  invaders  of  Italy  loved  to  use  for  saddles  (the  feelings 
of  the  cinque-cento  war-horse  are  not  recorded),  comprising  a  splendid 
and  spotless  specimen  of  printing  dated  1475,  wrought  with  such  ink 
and  paper  as  men  make  not  now,  was  purchased  retail  by  the  writer 
of  these  presents  for  only  20^.  Works  of  the  last  two  decades  of  that 
century  are  comparatively  easy  to  procure,  not  seldom  for  a  few 
shillings  apiece,  where  no  interest  but  the  date  of  production  attaches 
to  them  ;  while  anything  printed  between  1460  and  1470,  when  the 
first  enthusiasm  for  the  invention  produced  such  superlative  work- 
manship, still  keeps  a  high  value. 

As  to  the  question  of  interest  (humane,  that  is,  and  literary),  the 
early  printed  book  is  as  a  rule  very  deficient  in  this  respect.  Apart 
from  the  classics  (and  it  is  amazing  how  many  Latin  authors  ^ — 
Hallam  gives  a  list  of  them — were  reproduced  before  1500),  Bibles, 
Theology,  and  Hagiology,  are  the  chief  and  certainly  the  most 
artistically  beautiful  products  of  the  press  at  this  period,  not  that 
the  collector  anxious  to  possess  an  "  incunable  "  of  real  literary  and 
intellectual  value  need  hesitate  to  squander  ;j^5o  or  ;^ioo  on  such  a 
work  as  the  first  edition  of  Augustine's  De  Civitate  Dei,  fol.  1467 
(without  name  or  place).  Next  to  the  absolutely  earliest  specimens 
of  printing  we  may  put  the  most  celebrated  editions  of  Latin  and 
Greek  classics  and  other  authors  published  by  the  most  famous 
printers  (also  in  many  cases  their  own  editors)  during  the  whole 
period  of  the  Renaissance.  The  art  of  printing,  originally  born  at 
some  yet  disputed  date  between  1450  and  1460,  as  well  as  of  what 
may  be  called  publishing,  experienced  a  sort  of  chronic  regeneration 
in  one  direction  or  another,  in  the  matter  of  type,  size,  or  some  other 
detail,  at  the  hands  of  the  celebrated  representatives  of  the  Giunta, 
Aldus,  Estienne,  and  Gryphius  families.  The  Plantin  establishment 
at  Antwerp  is  equally  famous,  retaining  its  excellence  during  all  the 

^  Among  these  a  special  interest  attaches  to  the  very  early  and  valuable  first 
■   edition  of  Tacitus  (folio,  circum  1468)  wanting  the  first  five  books  of  the  Annals, 
which  are  described  in  the  edition  of  1515  as  "  nuper  in  Germania  reperti.'    • 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  7 

latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  first  privilege  was  granted 
in  1554,  and  in  the  half-century  that  followed  probably  no  press  in 
Europe  turned  out  a  larger  proportion  of  useful  books.  1     In  the 


Device  on  last  leaf  of  Sadoleti  Epistolae  ap.  Sebast. 
Gryphium.  1554. 


L  V  G  D   V  N  I, 
A  P  V  D   ANT.    OfHY  P  H  I  V  M- 

M.    i>.    LXXXY. 

Macrobii  Saturnalia.    i2mo.     1585.    (Device  on  title.) 

^  Of  the  "  Plantins"  in  my  possession  I  should  be  inclined  to  give  the  palm  for 
practical  neatness  and  legibility  to  the  pocket  edition  of  Boethiusy  i8mo,  1562, 
and  the  Epistolae  Clenardi  ("  rarse,  carse,  praeclarae,"  as  an  ancient  authority  calls 
them),  8vo,  1566.     In  \.\iq  Boeihius  the  device  appears  in  a  very  simple  form — with 


8  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

catalogue  of  the  museum  at  Antwerp,^  which  occupies  the  original 
premises  of  this  press,  it  is  stated  that  its  founder  (Christopher  Plan- 
tin)  produced  on  an  average  fifty  works  a  year,  and  about  fifteen 
hundred  in  all.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  what  proportion  of 
these  are  now  in  Great  Britain.  A  large  number,  and  still  more  of 
those  pubHshed  by  Balthasar  Moretus  I.  (1610-1641),  are  elaborately 
illustrated. 

But  for   modern  days,    and  for   London,  where   incredibly   im- 
mense stocks  of  second-hand  books  are  now  collected,  the  second 


Cum  C*f.  Ataieft.  gratia  8C  priuilegioi 
ad  dccennium. 

Device  of  Jo.  Oporinus  (J.  Herbst,  ob.  1568)  of  Basle. 

axiom  must  be  confined  to  earher  work.  Classics,  ancient  and 
modern,  however  excellent  their  execution,  having  vastly  declined 
in  value  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  are  now  much 
more  easily  met  with.  The  Stephanus  Editio  Princeps  of  Appian 
(folio,  1551),  a  very  creditable  piece  of  printing,  is  commoner  than 

the  legs  of  the  compass  not  twenty-five  degrees  apart.     In  the  fornmides,  8vo, 
1597  (also  an  excellently  printed  work),'they  have  expanded  to  twice  that  distance. 
^  Catalogue du  Musee  Plantin- Moretus,  par  Max  Rooses,  Conservateur.     2'"e  ed. 
Anvers,  1883. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 


Device  of  Plantin-Moretus  press,  a  late  specimen  (17th 
century,  date  mislaid.) 


Device  on  title  of  Clenardi  Epistolae  ex  off.  Christophori  Plantin.     1566. 

many  English  productions  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  first, 
spendidly  executed  edition  of  Cardinal  Bembo's  Historise  Venetae 
— a  work  of  quite  insignificant  historical  value — bearing  the  same 


lo  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

date,  cannot  be  called  rare,  and  excellent  specimens  of  the  Plantin- 
Moretus  press  can  be  unearthed  with  surprising  facility  at  almost 
any  second-hand  shop.  This  remarkable  state  of  things  is  only  to 
be  accounted  for  by  that  avidity  on  the  part  of  English  collectors 
of  the  last  century,  which  had  attracted  the  notice  of  earlier  biblio- 
graphers than  Vogt.  The  private  libraries,  and  consequently  the 
booksellers'  shops  of  this  country,  have  for  long  been  probably 
much  better  stocked  with  literature  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries  than  any  others  equally  distant  from  the  great  printing 
centres  of  the  Continent. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  a  book  is  not  necessarily  verj'  rare 
because  it  is  seldom  seen  in  the  market,  since  it  may,  in  stock- 
broking  language,  be  "well  held"  in  many  quarters.  Again,  a 
book  may  be  merely  so  rare  that  you  may  spend  a  dozen  years  look- 
ing for  it,  without  being  so  much  rarer  that  every  known  copy  is,  so 
to  speak,  the  cynosure  of  all  neighbouring  eyes.  One  ought  further  to 
distinguish  books  which  have  become  rare  because,  in  bibliographical 
phrase,  recherches,  and  those  which,  being  naturally  few  in  number, 
or,  from  their  nature,  calculated  only  to  survive  in  a  few  copies, 
have  become  sought  after  for  that  reason.  It  is  obvious  that  the 
former  will  include  all  rare,  old,  or  early  printed  works  which  present 
intrinsic  attractions  to  the  intelligence  or  antiquarian  interest  of 
book-lovers,  and  the  latter  such  books  as  are  valued  chiefly  as  a 
source  of  curious  vanity  to  the  happy  possessor,  and  of  vexation  of 
spirit  to  his  rivals. 

Some  books  are,  it  would  be  simpler  to  say,  "born  rare,  some 
achieve  rarity  "  by  their  merits  or  demerits,  "  and  some  " — of  which 
more  anon — "  have  rarity  thrust  upon  them." 

Andreini's  Adamo,  4to,  1613,  would  perhaps  never  have  become 
even  a  moderately  rare  book,  but  for  its  "  ex  post  facto  "  connection 
with  Milton's  Paradise  Lost.  Similarly  the  work  of  "Erycius 
Puteanus"  (i.e.  Henry  Du  Puy  1574-1646),  entitled  Comus  sive 
Phagesiposia  Cimmeria,  Somtiiw?t,f\x%\.  published  at  Louvain  in  16  n 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  ir 

(and  reprinted  at  Oxford,  1634),  may,  for  all  we  know,  have  been  L  W] 
rarified   by  students   anxiously   verifying   the   numerous    passages, /f  n  I  rt/ 
borrowed  thence  by  the  Enghsh  poet. 

The  texts  of  other  works — none  obtrusively  common — infected  by 
the  same  interest,  such  e.g.  as  Taubmann's  Bellum  Angelicu7n,  1607, 
and  Valmarana's  Paradisus,  162 7, will  be  found  in  Lauder's  Delectus 
auctorum  sacrorum  Miltono  facem  prcelucentiuni,  or  "Selection"  if 
we  may  so  translate  it,  "  of  Sacred  Authors  who  could  hold  a  candle 
to  Milton,"  8vo,  Londini,  1753,  itself  an  out-of-the-way  volume  of 
considerable  interest,  even  if  it  fails  to  prove,  in  the  words  of  the 
fanatical  author,  that — 

"  Had  Milton  not  plow'd  with  his  Neighbour's  fair  Heifer, 
Fam'd  Paradise  Lost  had  not  been  worth  a  Cypher  "  (!) 

Similarly  the  "  Tesoretto  "  of  Brunetto  Latini,i  in  itself  merely  a 
singular  piece  of  doggerel,  derives  a  shade  of  importance  from  the 
details  (of  scenery,  &c.)  which  it  certainly  seems  to  have  suggested  n 
to  Dante,  who  during  his  exile  attended  Latini's  lectures  at  Paris.  ' 
The  process  is  of  course  as  often  reversed.  Had  the  "Divine 
Comedy  "  been  a  perfectly  worthless  production,  it  might  have  been 
treasured  because  it  preserved  a  few  phrases  of  some  rare  or  perished 
original.  Just  as — to  illustrate  the  case  of  a  precedent  interest— a 
certain  folio  Psalter  of  1 5 1 6  is  highly  priced  on  account  of  the  long 
account  of  Columbus  which  is  employed  to  illustrate  a  particular 
Psalm.  This  is  the  case  with  numerous  works  on  miscellaneous  topics 
published  about  the  date  of  such  episodes  as  the  discovery  of  the 
New  World.  And,  in  general,  details  of  a  day  long  gone  by  have 
often  served  to  preserve  trivial  or  worthless  works  enshrining  them, 
which  would  otherwise  have  long  since  been  as  extinct  as  the  Dodo. 
It  would  be  idle  to  add  that  there  are  many  old  and  good 
books  which  well  deserve  to  be  recherchh  and  in  consequence  rare, 

^  First  printed  with  certain  other  mediceval  poems,  1642  (a  collection,  re- 
printed in  1750).     The  "Tesoretto"  appeared  by  itself  in  1824.     8vo,  Milano. 


> 


12  .THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

but  are  not,  perhaps  through  some  accidental  ignorance  on  the  part 
of  booksellers,  possibly  because  no  ingenious  critic  of  established 
reputation  ever  provided  that  worthy  fraternity  with  one  of  those 
concise  testimonials  which  we  find  reprinted  in  small  type  in 
catalogue  after  catalogue,  year  after  year.  Do  not  these  do  some- 
thing to  rescue  a  volume  from  dirt-commonness  ?  or  does  no  one 
purchase  Hooft's  History  of  the  Netherlmids  because  an  eminent 
judge  once  observed  that  its  perusal  would  repay  anybody  the 
trouble  of  learning  Dutch  ? 

Volumes  of,  so  to  speak,  a  native  rarity,  are  those  printed  in 
relatively  remote  places,  in  small  quantities  (either  owing  to  the 
expense  of  production  or  peculiarity  of  the  subject,  or  merely  for  the 
sake  of  the  consequent  rarity),  or  at  private  presses. 

The  collector  who  values  books  according  to  the  locality  of  their 
origin  will  do  well  to  have  at  his  fingers'  ends  the  various  dates  at 
which  printing  was  introduced  into  the  different  capitals  and  coun- 
tries of  the  world,  the  degrees  by  which  Italy,  France,  the  Nether- 
lands, Spain,  and  England  fall  behind  Germany,  and  even  the 
pettier  distinctions  between  Oxford  and  St.  Albans,  and  London  and 
Westminster.  Oxford,  Mr.  Gordon  Duff  tells  us  in  his  recent  mono- 
\  graph  on  the  subject  of  Early  Printing,  produced  so  far  as  is  known, 
only  two  volumes  in  the  fifteenth  century,  while  St.  Alban's  boasts 
at  least  eight !  and  poor  Cambridge  lags  a  dozen  years  behind 
Edinburgh  and  York. 

More  distant  countries,  the  East,  America,  come  of  course  later 
still ;  and  for  all  these  the  standard  of  rarity  on  account  of  place  and 
date  has  to  be  proportionately  shifted.  No  one,  not  entirely  ignorant 
of  history  or  devoid  of  the  commonest  human  curiosity,  would  pass 
by  a  book  printed  in  Mexico,  or  at  Constantinople,  early  in  the 
sixteenth,  or  in  the  Engadine  valley,  or  the  Scilly  Isles,  let  us  say 
even  in  the  eighteenth,  century.  Specimens  of  English  printing  of 
the  earlier  time, — the  excellent  work  of  Wolf,  Tottel,  Newberie,  Henry 
Binnemann,  and  others, — are  common  enough,  though  by  no  means 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  RARITY.  13: 

devoid  of  interest  and  value.  A  Scotch  production  of  similar  date 
(not  a  foreign  tract,  bearing  the  fictitious  stamp  of  "Edimburgi") 
will  be  far  more  precious,  and  it  is  a  singular  fact,  of  which  a 
recently  published  catalogue  of  "  Cambridge  Books "  supplies  no 
explanation,  that  there  does  not  appear  to  be  extant  a  single  volume 
printed  at  that  University  town  (whose  first  specimens,  perhaps 
illegally  produced,  date  from  1521)  between  1522,  and  1584,  when 
the  University  itself  began  to  print. 

The  products  of  private  presses  though  occasionally  exhibiting  an 
excellence  (more  often  a  magnificence)  unattainable  by  the  merely 
commercial  printer,  as  a  rule  appeal  chiefly  to  curiosity. 

Appended  to  Lord  Hardwicke's  Walpoliana  is  a  list  ("  copied  in 
Mr.  Walpole's  presence")  of  the  books  printed  at  Strawberry  Hill. 
They  do  not  exceed  thirty  works,  averaging  about  three  or  four 
hundred  copies  apiece,  though  Gray's  odes  reached  eleven  hundred. 

The  fashion  of  producing  certain  books  in  small  quantities,  as 
Bodoni  of  Parma  printed  Marriage  Odes  for  aristocratic  families  of 
1 78-,  and  as  modern  publishers  produce  sumptuous  "  editions  de 
luxe  "  upon  that  "  large  paper  "  which  has  become  the  handmaid  of 
minor  poetic  art,  is  a  concession  to  the  pursepride  of  the  despotic 
collector,  who  in  these  days  must  (it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
observe)  be  as  rich  as  Croesus.  First  and  foremost  among 
works  which,  though  produced  in  plenty,  have  been  reduced  to 
rarity  by  recent  demand,  come  those  celebrated  first  editions  of 
modern  romances  which  have  of  late  years  formed  the  chief  big 
game  of  London  booksellers.  The  title-page  of  an  English  book, 
the  impression  of  a  date,  the  width  of  a  margin,  are  matters 
intelligible  to  the  least  learned  among  the  trade.  There  is  there- 
fore here  a  free  competition,  the  results  whereof  throw  a  startling 
light  upon  the  amount  of  money  in  the  hands  of  persons  who 
seem  hardly  to  know  how  to  dispose  of  it ;  though  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  personage  typified  as  "  the  Chicago  Pork-butcher," 
has  of  late  years  been  the  mainstay  of  the  West  End  bibliopole. 


14  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

The  following  prices,  however,  culled  from  catalogues  of  the  last 
few  years,  surely  deserve  to  be  placed  on  record ;  and  let  it  be 
remembered  that  none  of  these  books  are  printed  on  vellum,  that 
"  original  cloth "  does  not  refer  to  cloth  of  gold,  and  that  bank- 
notes will  rarely  be  found  among  the  "uncut"  fly-leaves.  The 
Ingoldsby  Legends,  three  vols.,  jQz^  j  Jane  Eyre,  three  vols., 
^15  1 5 J. ;  Sketches  by  Boz,  three  vols,  (one  with  the  two  extra  plates, 
;^9  loj.),  ;^38  lyy.  dd.  ;  Thackeray's  Second  Funeral  of  Napoleon 
(with  etching  by  the  author),  j[^^2  xos.  This  last  item  might 
alarm  a  timid  buyer,  but  another  work  of  Michael  Angelo  Titmarsh 
is  quoted  at  the  more  moderate  figure  of  ;^i8  185.  Mr.  Surtees' 
well-known  sporting  romances,  with,  it  must  be  noted,  illustra- 
tions of  peculiar  excellence,  average  from  eight  to  twelve  guineas ; 
a  very  good  copy  of  Handley  Cross  is  quoted  at  fifteen.  Master 
Humphreys  Clock  (in  wrappers)  may,  or  not  long  ago  might,  have 
been  bought  for  twelve  guineas ;  Walpole's  Mysterious  Mother  for 
nine  ;  Mr.  Swinburne's  Queen  Mother  for  fifteen ;  and,  to  conclude, 
Byron's  Poems  on  Various  Occasions  (in  a  perfectly  phenomenal 
"  state  "  purged,  as  it  were,  of  all  the  grossness  of  earthly  matter)  for 
;C(>o.  As  to  condition,  it  may  be  noted  that  there  are  divers 
volumes  attended  from  birth  with  some  serious  defect,  the  absence 
of  which  gives  sometimes  a  high  value  to  specimens  so  distinguished. 
Thus  a  copy  of  the  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  fol.  1611  {quels  ge'stes  de 
Dieu,  slily  observes  a  French  historian,  que  ces  actes  de  barbares  /)  the 
pages  of  which  were  not  the  colour  of  strong  tea,  would,  ipso  facto 
[attract  any  collector's  attention.  A  similar  hue  pervades  our 
\Anastasius  de  Vitis  Fo?itificum,  Moguntiae  1602,  involving  in  a  conge- 
Jnial  darkness  like  that  of  London  fog,  the  Annals  of  the  early  Pontiffs 
"  from  St.  Peter  to  St.  Nicholas  the  First."  Something  it  seems  went 
wrong  with  German  (and  Swiss)  paper  about  the  date  of  these  vol- 
umes. If  all  the  cheap  literature  and  journalism  of  our  own  day,  now 
encumbering  the  British  Museum,  should  in  another  two  centuries 
share  a  like  fate,  posterity  need  not  experience  either  surprise  or  regret. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  15 

But  to  return  to  modern  works,  which  are  seldom  "browned 
throughout "  as  yet,  though  sometimes  *'  foxed  " — there  are  persons 
who  would  grudge  the  above  prices  even  for  edges  absolument  non 
rogtics,  unturned  by  the  binder's  plough,  and  protected  by  the  finest 
handiwork  of  Bedford  or  Zaehnsdorf — who  would  in  fact  decline  to 
give  ;a^6o  for  Lord  Byron  himself  in  the  flesh  and  all  his  works. 
But  such  persons  are  not  book-collectors  in  the  true  and  exclusive 
sense  of  the  term.  On  the  other  hand  it  must  be  admitted  that 
these  latter  gentlemen  undoubtedly  do  get  hold  of  the  ''best 
editions  "  of  such  works  as  are  above  enumerated,  although  the  price 
paid  for  them  may  cause  the  hair  of  the  impecunious  to  stand  on 
end.  George  Eliot  observes  of  one  of  her  famous  characters  that,  "  He 
was  not  above  the  vulgarity  of  thinking  that  nothing  but  the  best 
[furniture]  would  do  for  him."  Perhaps  it  is  a  vulgarity  to  crave  the 
best  editions.  "  Every  one,"  whispers  the  acutely  democratic  con- 
science, "  cannot  have  them."  But  some  one  must^  and  there  they 
are ;  and  who  shall  say  the  best  edition  is  not  pleasant  to  read,  at 
least  if  of  a  work  in  any  form  worth  reading,  which  is  of  course 
another  question  ?  A  volume  (which  few  booksellers  have  seen)  of 
suppressed  juvenile  effusions,  entitled  Poems  by  J.  P.,  changes  hands 
(so  we  have  been  informed  by  an  expert)  at  some  £j\o  to  jQ^o  ;  and 
generally  speaking,  works  deemed  worthless  by  those  who  should 
know  most  about  them,  are  toiled  after,  as  few  men  toil  after  virtue, 
by  the  ravening  book-hunter,  whose  chief  joy  is  to  add  "rarity  to 
rarity  "that  he  maybe  "alone  in  the  world."  One  need  hardly 
refer  under  this  head  to  the  "  Poems  by  two  Brothers,  none  of  which 
have  been  reprinted  "(1827),  interest  in  which  has  to  all  appearance 
reached  its  financial  apogee  since  the  lamented  death  of  the  last  Poet 
Laureate.  It  is  astonishing,  by  the  way,  what  large  sections  of  the 
public,  who  seem  to  have  neglected  an  author's  works  while  he  was 
alive,  have  their  curiosity  suddenly  awakened,  as  many  publishers 
could  testify,  by  the  news  of  his  decease ;  as  though  this  un- 
avoidable  concession   to   the   fate   of  all  mankind   were   the   first 


i6  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

evidence  he  had  displayed  of  genius  or  originahty.  But  this  is  a 
digression. 

Whatever  the  reason,  there  seems  hardly  any  Hmit  assignable  to 
the  price  which  a  first  edition,  in  the  finest  state,  or  indeed  a  "  tall  " 
or  spotless  copy  of  a  moderately  out  of  the  way  work  z«  a  superb 
binding^  may  not  fetch,  even  in  the  auction  room,  to  say  nothing  of 
unrecorded  investments  by  eccentric  private  purchasers. 

Artistic  beauty,  of  any  kind,  is  inevitably  at  a  premium. 
Comparatively  few  modern  productions,  even  when  printed  by 
hand  upon  hand-made  paper  (excepting  those  perhaps  of  the 
Kelmscott  press,  which,  however,  will  scarcely  regenerate  popular 
taste  until  they  are  obtainable  at  more  "  democratic "  prices)  can 

^  In  his  exceeding  regard  for  "  outsides,"  the  modem  collector  doth  but  revert 
to  mediieval  fashion.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  for  example,  as  we  learn  from  the 
Catalogue  of  the  Orleans  Library  in  the  Chateau  of  Blois  (a.d.  1427),  the 
binding  of  a  book  and  its  ornamentation  were  what  seemed  most  worth  describing, 
(and,  indeed,  with  more  reason  than  exists  nowadays)  while  the  contents  are  some- 
times so  cursorily  mentioned  as  merely  to  arouse  an  unquenchable  curiosity.  Most 
of  the  Orleans  books  were,  and  for  that  matter  still  are,  "bound  in  stamped 
leather "  red  or  green,  or  in  figured  or  embroidered  silk,  and  many  are  adorned 
with  miniatures  {^histories)  and  illuminations.  Also  their  age  and  style  of  writing 
{"  letter  of  form  "  or  "  running  hand,")  are  carefully  noted.  One  of  the  most 
remarkable — videlicet  the  Abbe  Bonnet's  defence  of  Valentine  (Visconti), 
Duchess  of  Orleans  against  the  charge  of  having  caused  the  madness  of  Charles  VI. 
— is  described  as  "bound  in  red  leather,  written  in  French,  in  rhyme"  (it  was 
called  the  Apparition  of  Jean  de  Meung  and  still  exists  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale),  "  with  miniatures  half  finished  {historie  a  mi)  quite  new,  with  two  clasps 
— apparently  (this  in  a  later  hand)  of  silver-gilt — with  the  inscription  Ave  Maria." 
No.  12  is  a  real  rarity — nothing  less  than  the  lost  poem  of  Froissart  !  Le  Dit 
Royal  (black  velvet,  with  miniatures,  quite  new),  and  No.  80,  the  last  item,  a 
(duplicate)  Golden  Legend,  illuminated  and  bound  in  red  stamped  leather,  is 
described  as  "re-covered  by  Simonette,  lady's  maid  to  the  younger  Madame 
d^rleans."  M.  Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  the  editor  of  this  intensely  interesting  relic,  not 
only  identifies  most  of  the  books,  but  also  discovers  the  names  and  charges  of  the 
binders,  and  traces  the  history  of  many  a  MS.  volume,  compared  with  which  the 
rarest  printed  book  seems  but  poor  game. .  It  is  with  difficulty  that  we  tear 
ourselves  from  the  perusal  of  La  Bibliothique  de  Charles  d^OrUans.  8vo.  Paris  : 
F.  Didot.   1843. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 


17 


claim  to  be  distinctly  ornamental.  In  earlier  days  the  commonest 
manual  or  treatise  was  more  picturesquely  attractive  than  a  volume 
of  Belles  Leitres  turned  out  by  Clark  of  Dunedin,  or  Whittingham  of 
Chancery  Lane.  Sure  many  a  youth  of  the  fifteenth  century  must 
have  been  attracted  to  the  study  of  grammar  by  the  mere  title-page  of 


Tills  X'-'^gG  ol  Constantini  Lascaris  de  octo  orntionis  partibiis.   8vo.    Nic.  de  Sabio.  Venice,  1539. 

Nicolas  de  Sabio's  edition  of  the  great  work  of  Lascaris;  the  first  edi- 
tion of  which  (fol.  1476)  was,  by  the  way,  the  first  Greek  book  printed. 
If,  however,  we  compare  the  above  prices  of  modern  classics  and 
romances  with  the  early  editions,  for  example,  of  Shakspeare  (which 
certainly  have  not  their  attractions  in  respect  of  typography),  a 
certain  decent  proportion  will  be  found  to  be  preserved.     In  the 

c 


iS 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 


remarkable  sale  of  Mr.  Birket  Foster's  library,  in  June  1894,  the 
"first  folio,"  though  with  the  usual  imperfections,  brought  ^£25^. 
A  perfect  copy  would,  it  is  presumed,  command  four  or  five  times 
that  figure.  The  second  folio  (1632)^  fetched  but  ;^56,  but  the  third 
(most  of  the  impressions  of  which  were  burnt  in  the  Great  Fire) 


-'Vi/ 


Last  leaf  of  Constantini  Lasr.aris  de  octo  orationis  partibus.  8vo.  Nic.  de  Sabio.  jVenice, 
1539,  with  autograph  of  Estienne  Baluze  (Scholar,  Antiquary,  and  Colbertian  :Librarian, 
1630 — 1718). 

reached  ;^i3o.     Single  plays  moreover — genuine  and  spurious — 
fetched  high  prices. 

The  Midsummer  Nighfs  Dream^  1600  (large  copy),  ;^i2  2. 

^  Lord  Orford's  copy  (of  the  second  folio)  has  just  beaten  all  records  by  selling 
June,  1895)  for  ;^S40. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  19 

Tlie  Merchant  of  Venice,  1600,  £,\\(i  (the  last  copy  previously 
sold  went  for;^99  15^.). 

Sir  John  O  ideas  tie,  1600,  J^^i. 

King  Lear,  1608,  ;^ioo  (recently  sold  for;^29  8^.).  And  the  first 
collected  edition  ot  Shakspeare's  Poems,  1640,  with  portrait  inlaid, 
fetched  ^1^40. 

At  the  same  sale  a  first  edition  of  the  Compleat  Angler,  8vo,  1653, 
fetched  ;!^i5o. 

But  what  is  money  ?  Mere  dross.  Is  not  John  Major's  excellent 
reprint  of  Walton  and  Cotton's  chef-d'oeuvre,  which  is  to  be  found, 
with  portrait,  plates,  and  woodcuts,  in  the  library  of  all  families  of 
any  social  standing,  an  infinitely  preferable  one  to  read  ?  .  .  . 

We  have  referred  to  the  kind  of  rarity  which,  being  the  result  of 
what  one  may  call  an  artificial,  or  at  least  an  excessive  demand,  is 
in  modern  days  a  somewhat  fanciful  and  fluctuating  source  of  value. 
That  which  is  produced  by  artificial  diminution  or  destruction  of  the 
supply,  is  on  the  whole  of  a  more  solid  historical  interest.  We  say  arti- 
ficial, for  the  accidental  or  blindly  malevolent  destructions  by  fire,  in- 
vading armies,  and  such  like  calamities,  are  of  less  intrinsic  importance, 
although  their  undesigned  consequences  were  often  more  serious. 

The  librarian  of  King  Osymandias,  whose  collection  was  formed, 
we  are  told,  "  less  than  four  centuries  after  the  Flood,"  ^  might  have 
been  able  to  tell  us  something  of  the  literature  already  known  to  be 
destroyed  at  that  date.  This  first  of  libraries  possibly  possessed 
some  priceless  relic  which  the  Brunet  of  the  day  would  have  described 
as  "  Ouvrage  assez  ancien ;  Exemplaire  portant  I'autographe  de 
Japhet ;  Quelques  feuilles  mouillees par  le  Deluge."  But  the  earliest 
of  historic  destructions  is  the  plunder  of  the  Pisistratian  collection 
by  Xerxes,  of  which  Seleucus  probably  returned  only  the  duplicates. 

^  See  the  entertaining  preface  of  Fr.  Fournier's  invaluable  Dictionnaire  portatij 
de  Bibliographie,  2nd.  ed.,  Paris,  1809,  containing  23,000  articles  and  catalc^es 
of  Aldine,  Elzevir,  Didot,  and  other  editions.  After  many  years'  use  (of  the  late 
William  Bury's  copy)  I  can  testify  to  the  generally  reliable  character  of  this 
work,  which  deserves  to  be  better  known. 

C    2 


9\ 


20  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

The  burning  of  one  half  of  the  Alexandrian  library  by  the  soldiers 
of  Julius  Caesar,  and  of  the  other  half,  some  seven  hundred  years 
later,  by  the  Khalif  Omar,  and  of  Domitian's  library  in  the  Capitol  (in 
the  time  of  Commodus) ;  the  ravages  of  Goths,  and  of  the  French, 
Spanish,  and  German  invaders  of  Italy,  with  scores  of  other  mediaeval 
calamities,  down  to  the  destruction  by  fire  of  some  8,000  valuable 
Arabic  MSS.  in  the  Escurial  Library  at  Madrid  in  167 1,  and  that 
of  the  monastery  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres  (containing  priceless 
private  collections  of  books,  MSS.  and/a/jn)  in  1794 — the  Biblio- 
thbque  Nationale  was  barely  rescued  from  the  Communist  incen- 
diaries in  1 87 1 — all  these  accidents  and  crimes  have  swelled  the  tale 
of  valuable  books  which  are  no  more,  or  exist  only  in  such  quantity 
as  to  be  practically  introuvable.  Yet  again  there  is  a  destruction 
which  means  but  excessive  popularity.  Bunyan,  Walton,  the  "  Pastis- 
sier  Frangois  "  (exhibited  in  the  Long  Gallery  at  the  British  Museum 
and  one  of  the  rarest  of  Elzevirs,  the  Orford  copy  of  which  has  just 
sold  for  ;i^54o),  and  the  famous  Contes  de  ma  mere  I'oye,  are  found 
"worn  to  rags"  (as  a  kindly  reviewer  in  the  Daily  News  reminds  me) 
*' by  anglers,  devout  women,  cooks,  and  children."  A  seventeenth 
century  edition  of  Bodenham's  Politeuphuia  (first  published  1598,  and 
frequently  reprinted  at  the  instance  of  N.  L(ing)  and  others),  which  I 
purchased  the  other  day,  is  thumbed  almost  into  illegibility^a  strik- 
ing evidence  of  the  dearth  of  humour  when  such  a  mere  endless 
collection  of  truisms  and  platitudes  could  pass  muster  as  Wifs 
Commonwealth  /  But  confining  our  attention  to  the  deliberate  sup- 
pression or  destruction  of  particular  volumes,  the  presumption  is 
in  such  cases  perhaps  rather  in  favour  of  the  persecuted  work  pos- 
sessing some  human  interest,  creditable  or  the  reverse. 

It  is  far  from  being  always  so;  here  again  bibliomania  is  ram- 
pant, perhaps  to  a  less  degree  than  formerly ;  for  one  must  not 
hastily  assume  that  high-priced  catalogues  or  auction-duels  ter- 
minating in  rounds  of  applause  are  things  belonging  only  to  the 
nineteenth  century.     We  have  August  Beyer  writing,  in  the  preface 


.  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  ar 

to  his  bibliographical  MemoricB  (Dresden,  1734),  that  he  had  long 
noticed  the  "  astonishing  prices  {inexpectata  pretid) "  commonly 
assigned  to  certain  little  known  booklets.  "  Greater  still  was  my 
surprise  to  see  English,  Dutch,  French,  and  German  buyers  (he 
puts  our  countrymen  first)  engaged  in  a  sort  of  tacit  mutual  con- 
spiracy to  secure  them,  and  unwearied  in  their  expenditure  for 
this  object,  though  I  was  unable  to  conjecture  any  motive,  except 
the  mere  vanity  of  ostentation,  why,  for  example,  educated  men, 
with  some  taste  for  real  learning  and  only  distinguished  for  their 
literary  studies,  should  prefer  rare  books  to  good  ones."  Works 
of  well-known  merit,  he  goes  on  to  say,  by  learned  and  capable 
authors,  very  seldom  vanish  at  once  from  the  public  view,  unless 
indeed  (and  the  exception  brings  us  to  our  next  subdivision  of  the 
subject)  they  chance  to  be  unsuited  to  the  genius  of  the  age,  their 
author  having  been  so  ill-advised  as,  in  historic  phrase,  to  enter  the 
world  "  before  his  time." 

Without  speculating  where  this  hypothetical  date  could  have  been 
fixed  in  the  case,  for  example,  of  such  a  person  as  Huss  or  Galileo, 
one  may  admit  that  the  majority  of  works  summarily  suppressed 
appear  rather  to  have  deserved  their  fate.  It  is  in  the  limited 
class  of  cases  where  reactionary  authority,  bigotry,  or  high-placed 
corruption  has  with  more  or  less  success  endeavoured  to  stamp 
out  some  publication  indicating  the  high-water  mark  of  the  free 
thought  of  the  age  that  rarity  becomes  of  most  significance  to 
the  student. 

With  the  mass  of  works  suppressed  as  contra  bonos  mores  we  need 
not  then  here  concern  ourselves,  though  they  will  always  attract  the 
attention  of  certain  curio-mongers  ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  distinction  is  not  always  easy  to  draw,  indecency  and  an  out- 
rageous disregard  of  orthodox  convenances  being  so  often,  as  notably 
in  the  case  of  Rabelais  (whom  no  one  succeeded  in  suppressing), 
and  in  certain  of  the  Protestant  Reformers,  such  as  Beza  (not  to 
mention  Luther  himself),  one  effective  edge,  so  to  speak,  of  the 


22  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

newly-forged  weapon  of  free  thought.  Few  writers  have  contributed 
more  to  this  class  of  rarity  than  the  celebrated  Pietro  Aretino,  com- 
monly known  as  "  the  Scourge  of  Princes,"  though  it  would  rather 
appear  from  Mazzuchelli's  interesting  life  of  this  indefatigable  libeller, 
that  his  self-interest  was  at  least  equal  to  his  candour.  Half  a  dozen 
editions  of  the  comedies  and  rhymes  of  Messer  Partenio  Etiro  run 
up  the  whole  gamut  in  Gamba  from  assai  raro  to  rarissimo,  and  are 
in  fact  almost  as  difficult  to  procure  as  the  censor  of  morals  would 
desire.  Perionius,  an  eminent  Benedictine,  addressed  a  singular 
petition  to  the  princes  of  Europe  in  155 1  (a  rare  piece)  begging  the 
authorities  "To  remove  so  horrible  a  monster  from  among  them 
{ut  tarn  horribile  monstrum  de  medio  tollatis),'"  a  proposal  which  could 
hardly  be  made  with  regard  even  to  the  most  unpopular  of  satirists  in 
our  own  day.  The  "  monster,"  however,  remained,  alternately  insult- 
ing Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.,  and  died  at  a  mature  age  leaving  six 
volumes  of  correspondence.  With  Nicolo  Franco  (1505-1569),  the 
rival  both  in  obscenity  and  scurrility  of  Aretino  (whom  he  spent  half 
a  lifetime  in  abusing),  but  a  writer  of  undoubted  ability,  the  case 
was  different.  Pope  Pius  V.  by  way  of  effective  reply  to  certain 
other  libels  directed  against  a  former  Head  of  the  Church,  lofecepub- 
licamente  appiccare.  His  Rime  cofitra  Pietro  Aretino  (8vo,  1548)  are 
nearly  as  rare  as  the  Elzevir  edition  of  the  latter's  Pagiona7ne?iti. 
The  dialogue  of  the  Carte  Parlanti,  even  in  an  expurgated  form, 
was  retained  in  the  ecclesiastical  black-book  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. For  ourselves,  we  are  not  perhaps  sufficiently  grateful  to  the 
sedulous  amateur  who,  in  Edward  Cheney's  copy  of  the  Venice  edi- 
tion of  1650,  has  restored  all  the  most  objectionable  passages,  in 
M.S.  Improper  works,  suppressed  with  more  or  less  rigour,  may  of 
course  be  found  at  any  date  ;  and  a  few  examples  suffice,  since  from 
Petronius  Arbiter  to  M.  Claude  Prosper  Crdbillon,  the  supposed 
author  of  the  fictitious  Pompadour  Letters  {Londres,  1774),  this  class 
of  literature  admits  no  very  rich  variety. 

It  is  necessary  to  distinguish,  alas  !  as  we  approach  the  darker 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 


23 


ages  between  the  cause  of  religion  and  that  of  morals.  Probably 
from  its  very  nature,  persecution,  dealing  with  minute  points  of 
doctrine,  has  exhibited  throughout  history  more  single-minded  en- 
thusiasm than  any  divergence  of  opinion  (which  has  perhaps  seldom 
been  very  great)  upon  merely  moral  questions. 

One    of    the  rarest  books  in  existence  is,  according  to  general 
opinion,  the  tract  of  Servetus  (Dr.  Michel  Rdves,  that  is,  who,  at  the 


VenetifS  dpud  Antonium  Gdrdan^. 
M      JD      XX  XXII. 

From  "  Le  pistole  vulgari  di  M.  Nicolo  Franco."     8vo.  Venice.  1542. 

instigation  of  his  former  friend  Calvin,  was  burnt  alive  at  Geneva  in 
1558),  entitled  Christianismi  Restitutio  (8vo,  1553),  of  which  only 
one  copy  is  known  to  exist,  viz.  that  sold  at  the  Lavalli^re  sale  for 
something  over;!^i5o;  and  next  might  come  the  same  author's 
three  tracts  on  the  Trinity  (printed  in  italics,  1532)/^/^  arbitraire. 
A  more  common  topic  of  bibliographical  gossip  is  the  Treatise  of 


24  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

the  Three  Impostors  {Liber  de  Tribus  Impostoribus),  of  which  the 
first  chapter  is  headed  "  De  Deo  " ;  a  work  once  attributed  without 
the  sHghtest  foundation  to  Servetus,  but  which,  according  to  Four- 
nier,  is  erroneously  dated  1598,  and  belongs,  as  indeed  is  obvious 
from  the  allusions  to  Descartes  and  to  the  philosophy  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  to  a  hundred  years  later.  Endless  research  has 
been  expended  on  the  history  of  this  publication,  or  another  of  the 
same  name  now  lost,  but  said  to  have  been  in  existence  early  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  For  this  the  curious  reader  may  be  referred  to 
the  notes  of  La  Monnoye  and  others  in  the  French  version  (a  com- 
mon book  of  the  last  century),  to  Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melan- 
choly (that  wondrous  collection  of  "  sweepings  from  the  Bodleian  "), 
where  the  leading  idea  of  the  work  is  ascribed  to  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II.  who  died  in  1250;  the  authority  given  for  this  statement 
being  a  curious  passage  in  Matthew  Paris  which  we  find  on  p.  685 
of  our  folio  edition  of  15  71.  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  in  the  first  part 
of  his  Religio  Medici,  also  speaks  of  the  work,  or  rather  of  a  work 
of  this  name  (without  explicitly  saying  that  he  has  seen  it)  as  a  "mis- 
creant piece,"  but  of  the  author  as  one  who  was  "  not  a  positive 
atheist."  Browne's  anonymous  annotator  (and  this  brings  us  to 
another  illustration  of  our  subject)  remarks  that  the  piece  was  "  by 
Ochino." 

And  so  many  people  once  thought,  and  doubtless  with  some  reason. 
For  the  works  of  Bernardino  Ochino  "  of  Siena,"  who  passed  through 
several  religious  phases  and  finally  died  a  Socinian  in  1564,  fill 
several  pages  in  bibliography,  and  are  almost  all  "  very  rare " ;  the 
rarest  perhaps  being,  after  certain  sermons  printed  in  1541,  A 
Dialogue  of  Purgatory  (8vo,  1556),  and  an  attack  on  the  errors  of 
the  "Sinagoga  del  Papa  "  (Geneva,  1554),  a  "  Dialogue  of  the  unjust 
and  usurped  primacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  the  just  abolish- 
ing thereof"  (London,  1549).  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that 
these  were  all  suppressed  with  conscientious  care.^     Ochino,  like  so 

^  I   have  before  tne  the  original  edition  of  his   Catechismo  overo  Institutione 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITV.  25 

many  others,  had  something  to  say  on  the  then  popular  subject  of 
Antichrist.  The  work  of  Huss  bearing  this  title  (never  printed  till 
the  sixteenth  century,  a  4to  volume  of  Opuscula  with  no  date)  was 
the  immediate  cause  of  his  destruction.  It  was  not  always  found 
possible  to  suppress  the  obnoxious  author ;  but  an  inevitable  epithet 
in  the  description  of  the  lucubrations  of  early  Protestantism,  is  the 
phrase  fort  rare,  supprim'e  par  la  cour  de  Rome.  Another  work, 
which  was  the  occasion  of  about  as  much  literary  fuss  as  the  Three 
hnpostors,  is  the  Cymbalum  Mundi  (8vo,  Paris,  1537),  of  which 
only  two  or  three  copies  are  said  to  be  known.  Every  kind  of 
shocking  impiety  was  long  attributed  to  the  author,  till  at  last  it 
occurred  to  one  eminent  bibliographer  of  the  last  century  to  read  the 
book,  which  he  accordingly  did,  and  found  it  of  quite  depressing 
propriety.  A  more  important  example  of  a  very  rare  book  which, 
though  its  author  suffered  years  of  martyrdom  for  his  advanced 
opinions,  was  not  suppressed,  is  the  Scelta  d'alcune  poesie  filosofiche  di 
Settimontano  Squilla  (s.l.  printed  in  Germany)  nelV  anno  1622. 
This  title  conceals  no  less  important  a  work  (to  the  student  of 
History  in  Literature)  than  the  sonnets  of  Campanella  (1568-1629), 
the  famous  author  of  the  De  Monarchia  HispanicB  (24mo,  Elzevir, 
1 641),  which  were  published  with  a  valuable  preface  by  his  friend 
and  contemporary  Adami.  They  were  reprinted  at  Zurich  in  1834, 
and  have  been  translated  (with  those  of  Buonarroti)  by  the  late  Mr. 
J.  A.  Symonds. 

The  most  select  catalogue  of  books  "ordered  to  be  burnt  by  the 
common  hangman  "  would  exhaust  our  space,  even  if  the  subject  had 

Christiana,  a  pious  and  sensible  work  addressed  "  alia  chiesa  Locamese  che  e 
hora  in  Zuricco  " — 8vo,  in  Basilea,  1561  ;  and  the  Dialogus  de  Purgatorio — which 
is  an  ardent,  and  more  entertaining  polemic — Tiguri,  apud  Gesneros,  1555.  These 
works  have  no  high  market  value  at  the  present  day,  though  by  no  means  worth- 
less in  the  hands  of  a  theological  bookseller.  The  "Cymbalum"  is  easily 
accessible  in  Prosper  Marchand's  edition,  Amsterdam  (Paris),  1732.  I  could 
find  nothing  in  it  the  least  worthy  of  attention,  except  perhaps  one  mild  reflection 
on  the  Catholic  religion. 


26  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

not  been  recently  handled  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Farrer  in  a  curious  little 
work  wherein  he  advocates  the  revival  of  the  custom,  we  dare  not 
say  upon  insufficient  grounds.  But  nowadays  we  do  not  achieve  any 
destruction  more  discriminative  than  an  occasional  conflagration  in 
Paternoster  Row. 

During  all  the  interesting  period  of  the  revival  of  learning  and 
thought,  the  discrimination  was  all  in  one  direction,  until  ecclesias- 
tical damnation  came  to  confer  upon  the  volumes  it  honoured  a  sort 
of  hall-mark  of  excellence,  or  at  least  of  candour  and  originality. 

Wiclifs  Dialogues  (a  handsome  4to  volume  of  1525  with  a  fine 
wood-cut  title-page),  and  especially  the  fourth  book  reflecting  on  the 
Roman  Sacraments  and  those  unfortunate  donations,  were  rigorously 
suppressed  by  Rome.  All  Wiclifs  works  were  ordered  to  be  burned 
by  Archbishop  Arundel.  Francis  I.,  the  orthodox  ally  of  the  Grand 
Turk,  once  went  so  far  as  to  prohibit  printing,  for  fear  of  Protestant 
publications,  but  apparently  without  success.  To  the  fate  of  Huss 
.  and  Servetus  we  have  already  referred.  In  such  a  context  one  could 
not  omit  all  mention  of  the  unfortunate  Giordano  Bruno  of  Nola,  a 
philosopher  who,  having  been  much  persecuted  in  his  own  day,  has 
.  perhaps  been  unduly  praised  in  our  own.  His  Spaccio  della  Bestia 
trionfante,  etc.,  i2mo,  Paris,  1544  (London,  1584),  dedicated  to  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  is  one  of  those  volumes  occasionally  described  as 
"rarity  itself."  "I  would  not  have  it  thought,"  writes  Bruno,'  "that 
I  aimed  either  directly  or  incidentally  at  opposing  the  truth  or  at 
attacking  what  is  good,  useful,  natural,  and  consequently  divine " ; 
and  he  then  proceeds  to  inveigh  against  various  current  forms  of 
superstition.  But  authority  could  not  accept  this  view  of  the  case, 
and  the  usual  process  of  rarification  was  applied  to  the  Bestia,  a 
copy  of  which  was  sold  for  £2^  at  a  London  auction  in  17 11  and 
at  a  later  date  for  ;j^5o.^     We  dare  say  few  readers  have  seen  the 

^  See  an  interesting  review  of  this  book  in  the  Spectator,  No.  389,  (where  it  is 
characterized  as  "  a  short  fable  with  no  pretence  to  reason  or  argument  and  a  very 
small  share  of  wit  ")  and  the  editor's  note. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  27 

English  version,  The  Expulsion  of  the  Triumphant  Beast,  of  which 
a  few  copies  were  printed  in  17 13.  The  original  work,  together 
with  a  vast  number  of  others,  some  of  which  not  even  bibliographers 
have  seen,  was  rigidly  suppressed  ;  the  author  was  burned  in  effigy, 
and  afterwards,  as  is  well  known,  in  propria  persona  (a.d.  1600)  at 
Rome. 

The  case  of  one  Pallavicino,  not  the  Popish  historian  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  but  the  author  of  the  Divortio  Celeste  (the 
divorce,  that  is,  of  Christ  from  the  Romish  Church)  and  other 
satirical  works,  a  volume  in  i2mo  dated  Villafranca,  1643,  which  for 
some  reason  is  quite  common  in  London  at  the  present  day  (though 
Hallam  says  he  had  never  seen  it),  is  a  parallel  to  that  of  Franco 
above  mentioned.  Ferrante  Pallavicino  thought  he  had  got  off  scot- 
free,  but  was  treacherously  entrapped  and  beheaded  by  Pope  Urban 
VIII. ,  while  his  book  was,  we  may  presume,  selling  like  wildfire  in 
the  Protestant  market.^ 

Satirists  had  indeed  to  be  very  careful  (see  Le  Danger  de  la  Satire, 
ou  la  vie  de  Nicolo  Franco,  a  nice  little  book  printed  at  Paris  in 
1778);  and  not  only  satirists  but  booksellers.  As  to  the  general 
sense  of  oppression  under  which  they  laboured,  we  can  hardly  do 
better  than  cite  a  precious  passage  from  the  letters  of  Paolo  Manuzio, 
not  those  formal  and  laboured  Lettere  Volgari  which  he  issued  from 
the  Aldine  press  in  1556  and  1560,  and  which  enjoyed  so  much 
popularity  among  the  stylists  of  the  Renaissance,  but  the  real  homely 
business  and  domestic  communications  first  published  by  Renouard 
with  the  sumptuous  excellence  that  marks  his  productions,  in  8vo. 
papier  verge,  Paris,  1834.  Under  date  Rome,  February  28,  1570, 
the  worried  but  ever  industrious  and  hopeful  Manuzio  writes  to  his 
son,  "As  to  your  books  {quanta  a  tuoi  libri,  p.  181)  they  are  in  a 
safe  place,  in  cases  carefully  secured,  as  you  left  them."  The 
anxious  collector  had  been  previously  assured  of  this  in  a 
letter  of  May  of  the  preceding  year  :  "  I  don't  know  if  there  is  any- 
^  V.  Naudceana  6^  Patiniana,  2nd  ed.  1703,  p.  323. 


28  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

thing  forbidden  or  suspect  among  them.  I  have  no  wish  to  touch  or 
look  at  them,  lest  I  should  have  happen  to  me  what  happened  to  an 
employe  of  mine,  who  has  had  five  months  in  prison  and  risk  of  the 
rope,  though  without  his  fault,  only  for  being  mentioned  by  one  who 
professed  to  have  read  to  him,  here  in  the  house,  some  pieces  of 
Franco's,  a  writer  whose  mere  name  (he  was  hanged,  by  the  way, 
only  a  few  months  before  the  date  of  this  letter)  is  enough  to- 
send  to  prison  any  one  who  has  so  much  as  conversed  with  him — 
not  to  say  read  any  of  his  works."  And  this  reflection  the  respected 
and  privileged  Manuzio  thought  too  audacious  even  for  a  private 
letter,  without  a  saving  clause,  and  so  he  adds:  "The  Tribune  is 
most  severe,  but  most  pious  {rigorosissimo  ma  santissimo),  and  we 
must  praise  its  every  act  for  the  benefit  of  this  Holy  Throne  so  much 
attacked  by  the  perverse  reasoning  of  heretics." 

Yet  more  praiseworthy  seems  the  connoisseur  who  during  these 
troublous  times  preserved  for  us  in  luogo  sicuro  and  casse  ben  legate  or 
perchance  (a  practice  rightly  condemned  by  Mr.  Gladstone)  at  the  back 
of  shelves  of  other  volumes,  as  school-boys  conceal  illicit  romances, 
the  very  things  we  are  now  most  anxious  to  read.  The  tyranny 
of  lay  authority  was  perhaps  not  equal  to  the  ecclesiastic,  or  was  less- 
often  provoked ;  but  it  had  to  be  reckoned  with.  Candid  historians, 
such  as  the  prudent  and  impartial  Guicciardini,  needed  often  to  deny 
themselves  the  glory  of  publication  in  their  own  lifetime  for  fear  the 
powers  that  be  should  show  too  keen  an  interest  in  the  production, 
and  in  fact  "take  up"  the  whole  issue  with  such  ardour  as  modern 
booksellers  do  the  last  work  of  the  popular  author  of  the  hour.  It 
was  almost  more  exasperating  when  they  took  to  editing  or  "  Bowd- 
lerising  "  the  work.  Interest,  rarity,  commercial  value,  may  be  found 
dancing  around  these  apparently  trifling  bibliographic  details. 
Bruto's  History  of  Florence  (4to,  1562)  is  an  excellent  specimen  of 
the  Giunta  press.  The  book  was  so  far  successful  that  the  Grand 
Duke  ordered  all  the  copies  there  were,  sold  or  unsold.  "  Es  ist 
uberaus  rar  "  a  German  commentator  tells  us ;    but  "  extraordinarily 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  29 

rare"  or  not,  the  history  exists,  lies  before  us  in  fact,  as  we  write. 
It  is  only  brought  up  to  the  year  1492  (the  death  of  Lorenzo  the 
magnificent)  and  unfinished.  The  preface  is  such  a  scathing  review 
of  certain  historians  (Giovio  in  particular)  who  had  reflected  upon 

Com  vna  nuoua  muoIa  copioniTima  del  mcdcnmo,  pcf 
maggiorcoralnoditadc'Lcttori. 


^ffrtffo  Seth  Vm»<.  t  f  T  '» 

From  title  page  of  Francesco  Guicciardini,  gli  ultimi  guatiro  libri,  ed.  Papirio  Picedi  (not  a 
common  edition),  ap.  Seth  Viotto.  Parma.  4to.  1572.  These  last  four  books  were  first 
published  in  1564. 

Florence,  that  it  was  reprinted  under  the  title  of  a  "  defence  of  the 
Florentines"  (in  Italian),  4to,  1566.  On  the  other  hand  the  text  of 
Platina's  celebrated  Lives  of  the  Popes  was  seriously  corrupted  in  the 


30  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

editions  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  ingenuity  with  which  the 
passage  in  the  life  of  Pope  Cletus,  "  uxorem  habuit  in  Bithynia  "" 
was  altered  in  some  versions  into  "uxorem  7ion  habuit  in  Bithynia," 
is  a  solitary  and  startling  anticipation  of  nineteenth  century" 
humour.  In  our  own  copy,  formerly  the  property  of  M.  Estienne 
Baluze,  and  bearing  his  bold  autograph,^  the  damaging  expression  is 
omitted  altogether.  And  there  were  other  alterations,  more  per- 
nicious though  less  amusing. 

Textual  corruption,  in  fact,  in  ages  of  unlimited  monarchy,  stalks- 
abroad,  becoming  almost  a  rule,  not  an  exception.  Holinshed's 
Chronicle,  we  all  know,  was  altered  to  please  Elizabeth  :  and  Camden, 
a  better  annalist  than  antiquary,  hit  on  the  device,  as  Disraeli  recites, 
of  handing  over  to  De  Thou  the  passages  which  he  dared  not  entrust 
to  an  English  printer.'^  There  is  a  more  curious  modern  example  in 
the  case  of  Huet's  memoirs  of  his  own  time  {Commentarius  de  rebus 
ad emn perthientibus.  Amsterdam,  8vo,  1718:  " ouvrage  curieux")y 
certain  passages  of  which  (see  p.  36)  are,  apparently  on  theological 
grounds,  omitted  in  the  French  translation  of  1853  ! 

It  is  in  these  matters  that  the  bibliographer  is  most  needed ;  in  his 
columns  are  collected  the  test-passages,  nay,  the  very  words  and 
printers'  errors  by  which  the  genuine  work  is  to  be  discerned  from 
the  counterfeit,  the  historical  justice  from  the  imperial  or  ecclesi- 
astical thief.  A  score  of  .important  original  records  suffer  from  this 
malady,  quite  apart  from  the  inaccuracy  intrinsic  to  the  genesis  of  so 
many  early  texts,  and  the  casual  buyer  discovers  in  time,  through  the 
pain  which  ^schylus  tells  us  is  divinely  associated  with  learning, 
that  the  commonest  are  the  worst  affected. 

In  a  treatise  which  is  nothing  if  not  philosophical  we  have  not 
thought  worthy  of  notice  such  rarity  or  singularity  as  results  either 

^  See  p.  18  ante.     He  signs  his  surname  Baluze  on  the  Platina. 

-  This  fact  will  be  found  in  the  publisher's  preface  to  the  Annals  (I  quote  the 
8vo  ed.  Elzevir,  1625),  and  not  in  the  author's,  which,  however,  gives  some 
interesting  details  on  the  relations  of  the  two  historians. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  31 

from  the  ignorance  or  stupidity  of  a  printer  or  from  some  fancy  or 
fad  of  a  former  possessor.  Books  have  been  treated  in  strange  ways. 
The  great  Charles  Darwin,  when  encumbered  by  the  weight  of  a 
bulky  volume,  thought  the  shortest  way  of  getting  through  the  same 
was  to  cut  it  in  two. 

Anatomically  he  was  of  course  right,  nor,  in  the  case  of  a  modern 
Science-book  (probably  in  the  odious  garb  of  "  Publisher's  cloth  ") 
need  the  destruction  be  regretted.  But  the  tremendous  actuality  of 
such  a  pursuit  of  wisdom  would  sepd  many  a  dilettante  "bookman" 
into  wild  hysterics. 

An  eminent  Shakespearean  scholar,  now  deceased,  is  famed  for 
having  ruthlessly  torn  out  of  volumes  in  his  possession  all  the  matter 
which  he  considered  of  insufficient  interest.  Here  again  enthusiastic 
and  indefatigable  fatuity  will  be  found  pressing  hard  upon  the  tracks 
of  eccentric  genius.  There  are,  or  were  recently  at  large  persons 
bearing  all  the  outward  semblance  of  sane  humanity  who  purchased 
these  half-plucked  volumes  at  comparatively  high  prices.  To  such 
truly  was  the  "  half  more  than  the  whole."  It  is  not  so  usually,  or 
we  should  not  hear  of  so  much  happiness  depending  on  a  millimetre 
more  or  less  of  seventeenth  century  paper,  with  nothing  on  it. 
Etymologically,  of  course,  a  "tome"  is  that  which  has  been  cut. 
A  collector,  however,  is  the  slave  of  an  '■'■atomic  theory"  which  has 
nevertheless  Httle  to  do  with  science  or  learning  of  any  kind,  and 
does  not  tend  to  the  preservation  of  books,  which  should  always  have 
their  top  edges  cut  and  gilt,  and  their  sides  shaved  smooth  (at  least 
if  any  one  is  going  to  turn  over  the  leaves)  as  soon  as  possible. 

To  return  to  Bibliography  proper  (which  is  not  occupied  with 
"curiosities"),^  not  only  should  the  systematic  bookbuyer  read  his 

^  "A  taste  for  books,"  says  the  great  Gibbon — a  dictum  naturally  popular  with 
the  trade — "has  been  the  pleasure  and  glory  of  my  life." 

To  humbler  collectors  the  pleasure  is  more  obvious  than  the  glory. 

Perhaps  this  latter  may  be  thought  to  be  dawning  when  an  individual  whom  you 
do  not  know  writes  from  a  distant  locality  requesting  an  exchange  of  Bookplates  ! 
Should  these  lines  meet  the  eye  of  the  "  Ex-Librarian"  in  question  ("  Ex-Librist" 


32  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

tomes  in  a  manner  respectful  to  their  matter,  but  he  should  study  those 
*'  externals "  which  are  really  material,  to  wit  styles,  introductions, 
dedications,  nay,  even  typography  and  "  get-up,"  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  rapid  discernment  of  a  "book"  from  a  mere  "volume,"  even  in 
the  best  French  morocco — to  distinguish  not  only  the  air  and  "  je  ne 
sais  quoi "  of  colouring  and  appearance  that  sometimes  give  a  sort  of 

is  a  term  oHe  would  not  apply  even  to  a  political  opponent),  let  him  know  that 
while  their  author  does  not  as  yet  either  possess  a  bookplate  himself  or  require 
that  of  any  one  else,  he  has  discovered  (?)  and  preserved  a  really  interesting 
specimen  in  that  of  the  Marquis  of  Macciucca  (litterateur,  1699-1785),  comprising 
besides  a  conventional  crest  and  xnonogxzxa, /if teen  printed  rules  expounding  the 
principles  on  which  the  books  in  his  lordship's  library  were  lent  out. 

This  document,  of  which  a  description  was  printed  in  the  Athenaum  not  long 
ago,  I  first  found  in  a  copy  of  the  Lettres  Fanatiques,  8vo,  1739  (now  in  the 
British  Museum),  and  again  in  Alciati's  Tractatus  contra  vitam  monasticam,  &c., 
4to,  1740.  It  seems  to  comprise  the  whole  duty  of  a  book -borrower,  and  can 
hardly  be  a  common  specimen.  The  original,  of  which  the  text  is  here  appended, 
was  exhibited  in  1894  by  the  "  Ex-Libris  "  Society. 

Leges,  Volumina  ex  Bibliotheca  nostra  commodate  accepta,  lecturis,  secundum 
auspicia  lata  Lictor  Lege  agito  in  Legirupionem.  Mas  vel  Foemina  fuas,  hac  tibi 
lege,  Codicis  istius  usum  non  interdicimus. 

I.  Hunc  ne  Mancipium  ducito.     Liber  est :  ne  igitur  notis  compungito. 

II.  Ne  csesim  punctimve  ferito  :  ostis  non  est. 

III.  Lineolis,  intus,  forisve,  ducendis  abstineto. 

IV.  Folium  ne  subigito,  ne  complicato,  neve  in  rugas  cogito. 

V.  Ad  oram  conscribillare  caveto. 

VI.  Atramentum  ultra  primum  exesto  :  mori  mavult  quam  foedari. 

VII.  Purse  tantum  papyri  Philuram  interserito. 

VIII.  Alteri  clanculum  palamve  ne  commodate. 

IX.  Murem,  tineam,  blattam,  muscam,  furunculum  absterreto. 

X.  Ab  aqua,  oleo,  igne,  situ,  illuvie  arceto. 

XI.  Eodem  utitor,  non  abutitor. 

XII.  Legere,  et  qusevis  excerpere,  fas  esto. 

XIII.  Perlectum,  apud  te  perennare  ne  sinito. 

XIV.  Sartum  tectumq.,  prout  tollis,  reddito. 

XV.  Qui  faxis,  vel  ignotus  amiconim  albo  adscribitor :  qui  secus,  vel  notus 
eraditor.  Has  sibi,  has  aliis  prsescribit  leges  in  re  sua,  ordinis  Hyeresolimitani 
Eques  Franciscus  Vargas  Macciucca.  Quoi  placeas  annue,  quoi  minus  quid  tibi 
nostra  tactic  est  ?    Facesse. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  33 

*'  gamey  "  flavour  to  a  genuine  "  find,"  but  the  differences,  so  often 
discovered  too  late,  between  volumes  entitled  indeed  alike  but 
radically  different  in  essential  qualities. 

The  Commentaries  of  Sleidan,  one  of  the  most  valuable  -^ 
authorities  on  the  time  of  Charles  V.,  are  to  be  consulted  in  the  rare 
first  edition,  folio  1555.  In  later  issues  he  is  gravely  suspected  of 
having  toned  down  certain  trenchant  reflections  on  the  Catholics  ; 
while  the  anxiety  he  expresses  in  his  preface  to  please  all  parties  if  it 
could  be  done,  is  as  obvious  as  that  of  any  Broad  Church  theologian. 
Bernardo  Segni's  History  of  Florence  from  1527  to  1555  (not 
printed  till  1723),  and  at  least  one  other  Italian  history,  have,  in 
complete  copies,  scandalous  passages  printed  and  inserted  on  a 
separate  slip.  Similarly  almost  all  copies  of  the  Aldine  edition  of 
the  Poems  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  are  found  in  a  mutilated  state,  the 
eight  leaves  of  one  whole  "gathering"  (O)  having  been  reduced  to 
four,  an  alteration  effected  by  Paolo  Manuzio  during  the  printing  of 
the  work.  This  appears  from  the  fact  that  the  "  register  "  was  altered, 
as  the  bibliographer  Gamba  first  pointed  out,  to  suit  the  omission. 
It  does  not  seem  clear  why  Manuzio  did  this,  since  two  of  the  poems 
thus  withdrawn  from  pubHcation  were  of  a  religious  nature.  But 
any  one  can  understand  why  Trissino,  during  the  impression  of  the 
"  original  and  only  complete  edition  "  of  his  great  epic  poem,  with- 
drew from  some  copies  of  the  work  (those  which  were  intended  for 
circulation  in  high  places,  or  all  that  there  was  time  to  alter  after  he 
had  realised  the  danger  of  their  publication  ?  )  about  thirty  lines  of 
prophetic  invective  against  the  Papacy  and  the  Church.  The  wonder 
is  rather  that  they  were  ever  printed.  But  very  possibly  many  an 
author  who  in  such  days  enthusiastically  committed  to  paper,  in  a 
veiled  or  poetical  form,  an  indictment  of  existing  abuses,  was  struck 
— as  what  authors  are  not  often  struck  ? — by  the  difference  in  lucidity 
and  directness  between  manuscript  and  "  copy." 

Let  the  purchaser,  then,  of  the  Italia  liherata  dai  Goti  (3  vols.  8vo, 
Venice  and  Rome,  1547-8),  undistracted  by  the  curious  Greek  type 

D 


34  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

scattered  about  Trissino's  pages,  look  carefully  at  the  131st  page  of 
the  second  volume. 

Again  the  first  edition  of  Burnet's  History  of  his  own  Time  is  very 
common.  A  bookseller  would  not  stoop  to  pick  it  up  in  the  streets. 
It  appeared  in  a  much  garbled  form  ;  so  did  that  of  Clarendon,  and 
numerous  others.  So,  for  different  reasons,  did  most  of  the  precious 
correspondence  of  Madame  de  Sevigne,  of  which  the  Rouen  edition  of 
1720  is  extremely  rare  ; — and  the  dearth  of  MSS.  has  made  their  per- 
fect reproduction  at  the  present  moment  almost  impossible.  This  cor- 
ruption of  the  very  springs  of  our  knowledge  of  the  past  is  a  constant 
and  endless  source  of  exasperation.  Better  to  be  burned  out  once 
for  all,  to  have  to  buy  back  the  charred  remains  of  your  manuscript,. 
as  the  historian  Paolo  Giovio  did  from  a  tipsy  Spanish  soldier  engaged 
in  the  sack  of  Rome  ^  (and  at  what  we  may  assume  to  have  been  a 
prix  arbitraire\  than  to  be  coolly  edited  with  scissors  or  blacking- 
brush  by  a  Roman  Catholic  divine,  as  Russian  censors  in  our  own 
day  treat  the  revolutionary  Fufich,  or  prepared  for  the  intelligent 
student  of  politics  by  some  one-eyed  and  unlettered  partisan.  The 
great  De  Thou — who,  by  the  thoughtless  emission  of  such  expressions 
V  as  Riipisfulcaldius,  involved  his  countrymen  in  the  compilation  of 
dictionaries  wherewith  to  translate  his  valuable  history — is  said  to 
have  refused  the  request  of  James  I.  that  he  should  alter  therein  the 
text  of  a  certain  passage.  Yet  the  Pattisson  folio  edition  of  1604  is 
counted  rare  for  the  containing  of  certains  endroits  which,  in  the 
words  of  the  poet,  are  not  met  with  elsewhere.  When  Alexander 
Gordon,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  published  his  interesting  History, 
he  could  only  quote  the  suppressed  passages  in  Guicciardini's  fourth 

^  Two  officers — to  speak  quite  correctly — found  the  MSS.  in  a  box  also  con- 
taining money.  Those  on  paper  were  thrown  away,  but  the  parchments  restored 
for  a  price,  to  wit  Holy  Orders  (!)  conferred  on  the  plunderer  by  the  Pope  at 
the  tearful  request  of  the  author.  See  Jovit  Opera,  fol.  Basilea.  1578,  I.  151. 
In  the  same  passage- we  are  told  that  the  last  six  books  of  the  first  decade  were 
those  destroyed,  but  that  the  author  hopes  to  restore  them  from  memory  and 
notes. 


THE  THILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  35 

book  from  such  surreptitious  publications  as  the  little  volume  entitled 
Tlmanus  restiiutus,  &>c.  (i2mo,  1663),  one  of  the  numerous  historical 
opuscula  printed  in  Germany  and  burnt  in  France.  Nor  was  the 
work  correctly  printed  until  1820,  the  date  of  Rosini's  edition. 

The  memoirs  of  Sully  (like,  for  that  matter,  the  first  edition  of 
Lambarde's  Ketit)  contained  reflections  upon  certain  noble  families. 
Gui  Patin,  in  a  letter  dated  February  28,  1650  (ed.  1692,  vol.  i.  p.  94), 
speaks  of  a  recent  edition  (Rouen,  1 649  ? )  considerably  mutilated  at 
the  request  of  "  M.  le  Prince." 

We  do  but  glance  here  at  a  few  of  the  casual  elements  in  what 
may  be  called  the  philosophy  of  rarity,  which,  indicating  as  they  do 
difificulty  of  acquisition  and  necessity  of  research,  may  recall  to  the 
buyer  of  books,  as  books,  how  many  snares  and  pitfalls  beset  those 
who  go  forth  to  the  chase  unequipped  with  the  requisite  information. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  in  these  peaceful  days  of  international 
communication,  where  manuscripts  subsist  and  have  been  reprinted, 
old  and  early  editions,  however  rare,  tend  to  fall  into  discredit. 
What  has  been  done  by  French  editors  for  such  great  classics  as 
Joinville,  Froissart,  and  Saint-Simon,  and  by  the  late  Dr.  Luard  and 
other  no  less  trustworthy  scholars  for  Matthew  Paris  and  an  immense 
number  of  our  own  early  Chronicles,  is  well  known.  Nevertheless, 
though  an  "  old  edition "  of  the  Historia  Major  may  be  bought 
for  very  little,  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  magnificent  black- 
letter  first  editions  of  the  great  French  Chroniclers  published  at  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century  are  not  (even  when  far  less  correctly 
printed  than  the  above)  both  valuable  and  uncommon. 

Early  histories,  it  has  already  been  observed,  were  sometimes  found 
better,  at  least  safer,  for  a  little  keeping.  But  the  interest  attaching 
to  a  book  being  a  matter  of  so  many  and  divers  influences,  it  is 
equally  true  that  contemporary  editions  of  records  of  important  events 
may  be  supposed  to  possess  both  rarity  and  interest.  A  letter  from 
Columbus  announcing  the  so-called  discovery  of  America  (of  which  a 
perfect  copy  was  only  recently  discovered,  dated  1493),  Vespuccio's 

D    2 


36 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 


account  of  his  explorations  (1503-4),  the  Summarie  and  True  Discourse 
of  Sir  Francis  Drake's  West  Indian  voyages,  and  the  early  editions 
of  Marco  Polo,  whose  original  {French)  text  was,  as  we  learn  from 
Mr.  Quaritch's  instructive  catalogue,  only  published  in  1824, — these 
are  the  very  models  of  rare  and  invaluable  historical  monuments. 

It  is  a  mere  platitude  to  observe  that  the  men  of  action  who  dis- 
covered the  New  World  were  fortunate  in  being  among  the  first  who 
found  developed  and  ready  to  hand  the  greatest  force  ever  known  for 
the  celebration  and  recording  of  great  deeds.  Previous  explorers, 
conquerors,  thinkers,  historians,  had  had  to  wait,  often  at  great  risk. 
From  the  invention  of  printing  it  became  possible  for 
every  human  memorandum  to  be  at  once  committed 
to  a  form  which  in  its  multiplicity  and  durability  was 
practically  indestructible.  But  the  sixteenth  century 
was,  like  our  own,  an  age  of  enthusiastic  and  on  the 
whole  tasteful  reproduction.  Few  more  attractive 
books  have  ever  appeared  than,  to  take  examples  at 
haphazard,  the  Silvian  edition  of  Gulielmus  Neubri- 
gensis  (8vo,  Antwerp,  1567);  Wolfs  first  edition  of 
Matthew  Paris  (fol.  Lond.  1570);  the  "Various 
Letters"  of  Cassiodorus  (fol.  Augsburg,  1533  :  ''assez 
rare");  Morel's  beautiful  rubricated  Gregory  of  Tours 
(Svo  :  1562);  or,  again,  the  valuable  and  excellently 
printed  collection  of  Epigrammata  and  Poematia 
(Paris:  Duval  and  GiFles,  i2mo,  1590:  '■'rare  et 
recherchie^)  edited  by  Pierre  Pithou.  And  the  Monstrelet  of  P. 
Mettayer  (3  vols,  in  2,  fol.  1595)  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  finest 
large-type  library  editions  that  ever  left  the  press. 

In  estimating  the  interest  of  such  productions  an  allowance  must 
be  made  for  a  sentiment  which  is  not  perhaps  devoid  of  historical 
value.  If  it  seems  to  a  common  child  of  Adam  more  natural  to 
read  such  writers  as  Gregory  and  Cassiodorus  (unique  sources  of 
mediaeval  history)  in  what,  though  separated  from  them  by  some  nine 


Device  of  Guil- 
laume  Morel 
(1562). 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  37 

and  a  half  centuries,  still  strike  us  as  "  old  editions,"  how  transcend- 
ent must  be  the  interest  attaching  to  a  volume  which,  so  far  as  chrono- 
logy is  concerned,  might  have  been  read  by  the  author  himself !  Did 
Savonarola  by  chance  actually  handle  this  "  spotless  copy  "  of  the 
"  Compendium,"  as  he  called  it,  of  his  Revelations  printed  for  him  by 
Buonaccorsi  in  Florence  three  years  after  the  death  of  his  arch 
enemy  and  three  years  before  his  own  ? 

Persons  living  in  that  age  have  clearly  a  special  interest  for  all 
students  of  history  as  recorded  in  the  "  printed  book."  How  difficult 
to  shake  off  the  impression  that  one  somehow  reads  between  the 
lines  of  such  an  "  original "  more  than  can  be  conveyed  to  the 
circulating-library  student  of  our  day  by,  let  us  say,  the  modern  English 
version,  if  there  be  one,  cheaply  printed  in  double  columns  !  ^ 

But,  again,  it  must  in  justice  be  remembered  that  in  ever  so  many 
cases,  which  only  special  knowledge  and  experience  enable  us  to  discern, 
the  old  book,  in  spite  of  its  rarity,  beauty,  and  antiquarian  interest,  is 
not,  after  all,  the  thing  itself,  but  only  an  inaccurate  or  fraudulent 
perversion  of  a  text  printed,  perhaps,  last  year  "  from  the  original 
MSS.,"  preserved — happily  we  have  not  often  to  inquire  where?  But 
the  reader  who  would  shake  off  the  "  idols  "  of  the  Book  World  need 
but  cross  the  threshold  of  a  modern  manuscript  department  or 
"  Record  Office  "  and  tremble  !  He  may,  indeed,  bitterly  console 
himself  with  the  reflection  that  many  "  originals  "  are  hopelessly  lost 

^  Perhaps  a  better  example  of  a  rarity  concerning  "  Frate  Hieronymo  "  would 
be  the  unique  (?)  quarto  volume  containing  the  "  canzona  d"  im  piagnone  pel  brucia- 
mento  delle  vanita  net  Carnevale  del  1498,"  printed  at  the  time,  and  reproduced 
in  a  superb  edition  on  hand-made  paper — Firenze,  1864  (160  copies,  of  which 
mine  is  No.  143) — together  with  the  contemporary  account  of  a  "burning  of 
vanities,"  by  Benivieni,  the  friend  and  supporter  of  the  unfortunate  Savonarola, 
for  a  glimpse  of  whose  half-mystic  attitude  see  the  Compettdio  delle  Rivelationi 
aforesaid  (1495).  There  were  two  Carnivals,  those  of  1497  and  1498  (Florentine 
style,  1496-7)  at  which  Savonarola  preached  {vide  Romold)  the  destruction  o 
"  vanities  and  abominations,"  which,  as  carried  out  by  bands  of  fanatical  youths, 
"weepers,"  ox piagnoni'm.  the  singular  manner  here  described,  formed  part  of  an 
enthusiastic  but  ephemeral  crusade  against  luxury. 


438564 


i! 


38  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

or  preserved  only  in  a  translated  or  secondary  form,  which  it  is  im- 
possible for  the  most  ardent  research,  in  legal  jargon,  to  "  go  behind." 

"  Mais,  pour  suivre  notre  route "  (as  even  Montaigne  once  ob- 
serves), hardly  a  ray  of  the  "  contemporary  "  interest  can  be  said  to 
touch  the  first  editions  of  Greek  an,-^  Roman  Classics.  When  we 
contemplate  the  magnificent  folio  Virgil  (1468  or  9)  which  in  1780 
was  sold  in  an  imperfect  state  for  ;!^i64,  and  in  1889  (the  Hopetoun 
copy)  for  ;^59o,  we  do  not  think  of  Virgil,  but  of  Conrad  Sweynheym 
and  Arnold  Pannartz,  the  importers  of  printing  into  Italy,  and  of  the 
enthusiasm  attending  the  revival  of  letters. 

Far  different,  for  example,  is  the  "  local  colour,"  historically  speak- 
ing, attached  to  a  volume,  bearing  on  its  very  back  evidence  of  the 
feeling  of  a  dead  and  gone  generation.  Here,  for  example,  is  a  small 
8vo  of  1763,  lettered  in  bold  type  '■'■  Poisoti  for  the  Scotch^ 
.  "What  is  its  title?"  would  be  a  fair  question  to  a  candidate 
for  Honours  in  Bibliography.  Several  copies  {at  least,  to  be 
perfectly  accurate,  my  own  and  another)  of  the  North  Briton  (this 
edition,  by  the  way,  is  "  unknown  to  Lowndes  ")  were  so  lettered. 

There  exist  of  course  volumes  combining  every  element  of  interest 
connected  with  date,  place,  printing,  authorship,  "  proprietary  "  bind- 
ing, and  autograph — as  there  be  perfect  eggs  of  the  Great  Auk.  As 
a  rule,  however,  specimens  of  early  printing  are  rather  to  be  classed 
as  historical  curiosities.  The  "  six  copies  known  "  of  the  aforesaid 
Virgil  are,  where  such  things  should  be,  in  public  libraries.  An  old 
book,  which  is  also  a  contemporary  monument,  which  marks  an 
epoch  in  history  or  belongs  in  its  genesis  to  that  epoch,  is  the  most 
intrinsically  valuable  of  books;  and  a  keen  perception  of  this 
(though  deranged  by  odd  and  variable  fancies)  will  be  found  to 
govern  much  of  the  forces  of  research  now  at  work  and  with  which 
the  book-buyer  must  needs  do  battle.  With  regard  to  the  pursuit 
of  the  "first  edition,"  the  case  of  a  volume  differing  from  another 
(even  to  expert  eyes)  by  no  more  than  one  figure  on  the  title-page  (a 
defect  which  the  bookseller  of  mediaeval  morals  may  sometimes 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY 


39 


remedy  for  himself)  is  not  to  be  compared  to  that  in  which  the  first 
edition  bears  in  general  character  and  typography  the  stamp  of  a  long 
past  and  widely  different  age.  A  genuine  first  edition  is  in  its  small 
way  a  monument  of  history.  In  fact  Allan  Ramsay's  poems  (pub- 
lished in  1728)  were  even  called  in  to  prove  an  important  point  of 
law,  and  settled  a  family  dispute.^ 

The  studious  plutocrat  will  therefore  do  not  altogether  foolishly  to 
buy  the  first  edition  of  the  first  part  of  Don  Quixote  (4to,  Madrid, 
1605)  for,  let  us  say,  ;^i4o,  if  it  were  only  to  fix  an  important  date 


Woodcut  frjm /}/«<»(//>  ^i;  Ca«/,  trad,  par  Ant.  Tyrjn.     410.     Lyon,  1574. 

in  his  mind.  When  he  has  read  therein  as  far  as  the  highly 
unfavourable  review  of  existing  romances  of  chivalry  contained  in 
the  famous  sixth  chapter,  he  will  be  interested  to  learn  that  the 
original  edition  of  Amadis  de  Gaul  (in  folio  black-letter,  Saragossa, 
1508)  may  be  valued  at  a  still  higher  figure,  although  the  author  is 
believed  to  have  died  early  in  the  fourteenth  century.  To  explain 
this  (if  the  reader  has  not  already  been  provided  with  sufficient 
theories  from  which  to  choose)  we  may  add  that  the  copy  is  unique. 

^  See  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Somerville  (cited  p.   \z,2,  post).     Ramsay's  Elegy  was 
also  accepted  as  evidence  of  the  death  of  the  infant  Lord  Carnegie  without  issue. 


40  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

Until  it  was  discovered  in  the  present  century  at  Ferrara,  the  best 
and  oldest  of  chivalric  fictions  (as  the  Curate  and  the  Barber  agreed 
in  calling  it)  was  chiefly  known  in  a  charming  illustrated  edition^ 
complete  in  twenty-seven  volumes,  when  you  can  get  them,  ranging 
between  1570  and  1590.  We  confess  to  having  long  since  deter- 
mined to  rest  content  with  a  single  one,  the  fourteenth,  translated  by 
Antoine  Tyron,  and  dated  1574,  the  woodcuts  of  which  are  capital, 
and  crowded  with  incomparable  dragons  enough  to  stock  all  Mr. 
Andrew  Lang's  new  and  blue  Fairy  Books. 

Bibliography,  to  be  more  than  a  vain  curiosity,  must  of  course  be 
studied  as  a  material  part  of  history.  Many  indeed  are  the  books 
whose  appearance  marks  the  accession  of  something  far  more  import- 
ant than  king  or  queen,  nay  of  that  which  is  often  apt  to  destroy 
kings,  queens,  and  existing  conventions  generally,  to  wit  a  new  idea ; 
of  which  we  are  thus  provided  with  the  most  congenial  viemoria 
technica.  Not  less  significant  than  the  first  edition  of  Don  Quixote, 
for  example,  is  the  publication  of  Galileo's  Nuntius  Sidereus,  his 
Message  from  the  Stars,  in  16 10;  or  of  those  Lettres  kcrites  par  Louis 
de  Montalte  a  un  Fro7>incial  de  ses  Amis  which  make  the  year  1657 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  French  literature. 

The  final  ripening  of  scientific  conclusions,  the  impatient  outbursts 
of  long  shackled  humour  and  good  sense,  the  explosions  of  oppressed 
suffering,  and  the  exultant  happiness  of  peace  and  secured  civilisa- 
tion— all  these  leave  their  mark  in  the  records  of  bibliography,  and 
are  more  important  and  more  interesting  than  all  the  official  Acts  of 
Sovereigns  and  States. 

Yet  of  the  latter  Herr  Vogt,  whom  we  have  almost  forgotten, 
makes  a  special  class,  as  things  not  generally  entrusted  to  **the 
trade,"  nor  indeed  concerning  the  general  public  who  had  but, 
in  earlier  ages,  to  pay  or  fight  as  they  were  told.  Under  this  head 
come  the  numerous  swarm  of  Edicts,  Declarations,  Articles,  Ordin- 
ances, Petitions,  Requests,  and  Resolutions  of  Most  Christian  Kings, 
Illustrious  Princes,  and  the  representative  bodies  of  which  they  from 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 


4t 


time  to  time  invoked  the  assistance.  The  student  of  French  history- 
would  not  leave  on  the  shelf  a  i2mo  volume,  let  us  say,  in  nice  old 
red  morocco,  entitled  Traittc  des  droits  de  la  Rey7ie  tres  Chrhtienne 
sur  divers  estats  de  VEspagjie  (1667).  Rather  would  he  look  further 
for  a  very  similar  volume  to  put  by  its  side —  Verite  dcf endue  des 


\,2&\.\e?Aoiz.  Declaration  du  Roy.     Printed  by  Antoine  Estienne.     8vo.     1631. 


Sofismes  de  la  France  etc-  a  la  Sphere  (1668) ;  and  should  he  find  both,, 
might  return  with  great  content  to  study  the  tremendous  question 
of  the  Spanish  Succession.  The  complete  reports  of  the  States- 
General  of  16 1 4,  printed  in  handy  form  by  Morel  and  others,  might 
a  few  years  ago  have  been  found  "lying  about "  within  a  mile  of  the 
spot  on  which  we  write.     So,  for  that  matter,  was  the  Official  List 


42  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

of  all  "  Conspirators  "  guillotined  by  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  up  to 
the  fourth  year  of  the  one  and  (except  in  the  matter  of  heads) 
indivisible  Republic— the  original  French  text,  that  is,  although 
some  twenty  years  before  the  eleven  numbers  uncut  sold  at  Messrs* 
Sotheby's  for  six  guineas. 

A  good  example  of  the  strictly  historical  Tract  would  be  the 
mysterious-looking,  poorly  printed — and  there  is  a  certain  poor  and 
rough  badness  of  typography  and  paper  which  is  to  the  expert  eye 
more  appetising  than  the  "  largest "  glories  of  the  mediaeval  or  even 
the  Kelmscott  Press — the  poorly  printed  thin  4to,  we  were  observing, 
hight  Squitinio  della  liberta  Veneta,  &c.,  printed  at  Mirandola  in 
1612.  This  severe  attack  (by  a  Spanish  diplomatist,  as  the  learned 
Bayle  tells  us,  Lettres  Choisies,  p.  133;  sed? — the  authorship  seems 
to  be  undecided)  upon  Venetian  independence  of  the  Empire,  was 
rigorously  suppressed — "  every  copy,"  an  old-fashioned  bibliographer 
writes,  "  having  been  impounded  by  the  Signory."  Yet  o?ie  fell  into 
our  hands  but  the  other  day,  disguised  as  the  work  of  one  "S. 
Quitinio," — and  we  have  our  (other)  eye  upon  a  second — it  skills 
not  to  say  where — the  volume  is  not  worth  half  a  green  Pickwick 
wrapper. 

But  of  ephemeral  literature  the  greatest  is  not  the  historical  tract, 
but  the  pamphlet,  the  free  and  inevitable  contribution  of  individual 
opinion.  It  need  not  be  pretended  that  all  pamphlets  are  interesting. 
For  utter  weariness  of  the  flesh  those  of  our  own  seventeenth 
century  have  no  rival.  Who  knoweth  not  those  "  Horrid  pictures  of 
Popish  treachery,"  "  Bundles  of  rods  for  the  Back  of  this,  that,  or 
the  other  Ungodly,"  varied  by  "Warning  Cries,"  "Trumpet  Calls," 
and  endless  "  Brief  Displays  "  of  other  people's  Iniquity,  Ambition, 
and  Tyranny?  Anything  more  awful  to  contemplate  in  the  mass 
than  the  thirty  thousand  leaflets  which,  historians  tell  us,  issued  from 
the  English  press  in  the  twenty  years  or  so  following  upon  1640,  the 
biblical  imagination  boggles  at.  The  very  paper  and  print  of  these 
things  afflict  the  experienced  eye  with  that  atmosphere  of  dull,  stale, 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  43 

jaded  and  pedantic  controversy  from  which  the  uproarious  license  of 
the  Restoration  was  perhaps  the  only  way  of  escape.  Yet  here  too 
occasional  oases  of  interest,  political  or  religious,  may  be  marked 
amid  deserts  of  dulness ;  though  the  reader  should  not  purchase 
such  works,  even  by  the  stack  or  cart-load,  for  the  sake  of  finding 
*' rarities,"  like  needles  in  a  bottle  of  hay. 

In  truth  there  is  many  an  uncommon  book  which,  as  we  once 
heard  a  cynical  bookseller  observe  to  a  would-be  vendor,  is  "almost" 
yet  not  quite  "  as  rare  as  the  buyer." 

The  best  in  this  kind  after  all  are  but  dry  dust  and  drivel  to  the 
productions  of  that  true  age  of  libels,  the  sixteenth  century,  and,  in 
particular,  of  the  dark  and  stormy  period  of  the  religious-civil  wars  in 
France,  France  the  home  of  the  fiercest  of  passions,  the  mistress  of 
spiritual  epa7ichejne7it,  the  inventress  of  the  pamphlet,  and  the 
memoir.  From  the  most  abstract  theory  of  Society  down  to  the 
latest  amour  of  Henri  Quatre,  from  the  mysteries  and  iniquities  of 
the  Papacy,  to  the  most  scurrilous  personalities  and  the  most 
abominable  crimes,  every  topic  may  be  found  discussed  ad  nauseam, 
in  the  literature  of  this  excited  age,  and  discussed  in  most  cases  at 
white  heat. 

The  Franco-Gallia  of  Francis  Hotman  (1573),  the  ^^cont rat  social," 
as  one  historian  has  called  it,  "  of  the  sixteenth  century,"  the  Appeal 
against  Tyrants  {^^'Ejd.inhurgh,''  1579)  of  Stephanus  Junius  Brutus, 
alias  Hubert  Languet,  the  correspondent  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney — the 
discourse  on  Voluntary  Slavery  of  the  enlightened  Estienne  de  la 
Boetie,^  the  admired  of  Montaigne — these  mark  some  of  the  higher 

^  The  important  tract  of  La  Boatie  (1530-1568)  Le  Contr  '««  ou  Discours  de  la 
servitude  volontaire  (see  Montaigne,  Essais,  11.)  appeared  in  an  imperfect  form 
in  the  Mimoires  de  TEsiat  de  France  (see  p.  254),  3  vols.  1578,  which  by  the  ^ 
way  contain  a  large  number  of  celebrated  pamphlets  of  the  time,  the  Hist, 
"i-ragique  de  Marie  Koyue  d'Escosse,  the  Discours  vierveilleux  de  la  Vie  de  Catherine 
de  Medici  (usually  attributed  to  Estienne),  and  various  political  ephemerides. 
For  an  account  of  the  treatises  of  Barclay,  Buchanan,  Mariana  {De  Kege,  1599, 
rare),  see  Hallam,  who  points  out  what  a  store  of  constitutional  arguments  and 


44  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

X    levels  of  thought.     The  Alarum  of  Frenchmen^  the  De  Furoribus 
Gallicis}  are  more  immediately  concerned  with  actual  history,  while 

■V  of  the  literature  of  the  "  League,"  the  Histoire  au  way  du  ineurtre 
de  M.  k  Due  de  Guise  (1589,  with  a  woodcut  of  the  Duke  lying  on 
the  ground  pierced  with  five  poniards),  and  the  Banquet  du  Covite 
d' Arete  (1594),  a  ferocious  attack  by  the  turncoat  Louis  d'Orleans 
upon  "  the  hypocrisy  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  the  morals  of  him 
and  his  companions  " — would  be  fairly  typical  specimens.  The  first 
editions  of  such  opuscula  are  not  only  rare,  but,  in  a  chastened 
intellectual  sense,  of  considerable  value.  But  of  all  Tracts  for  the 
Times  (and  such  times  ! )  none  rivals  in  interest  (or  in  bulk,  for 
brevity  is  not  essential  to  the  nature  of  a  pamphlet)  that  celebrated 
miscellany  of  iniquity,  half  concealed  under  the  mask  of  an  erudite 
,  V  commentary,  the  immortal  Treatise  of  Wo?iders,  or  Apology  for 
Herodotus,  from  which  scores  of  modern  authors  have  drawn  such 
priceless  materials.  The  original  edition  of  this  work  (1566),  con- 
taining passages  afterwards  mutilated  and  suppressed,  is  a  historic 
rarity. 

Estienne's  Apology  is  pre-eminently  a  social  tract,  as  much  so  as 
Young's  Centaur  not  Fabulous.  Of  the  political  and  religious  out- 
bursts of  this  period,  the  greatest  beyond  doubt  is  the  little  volume 
of  the  Satire  Menippee  {i  ^()i\  in  which  the  awakening  common  sense 
of  distracted  France  found  an  antidote  to  the  venomous  drug  of 
"  Spanish  "  fanaticism,  and  quenched  in  torrents  of  ridicule  the  dying 
ashes  of  the  League. 

precedents  (utilized  to  some  extent  in  the  political  struggles  of  the  seventeenth 
century)  were  accumulated  during  this  period. 

>  The  Reveillematin  des  Francois  ^  de  leiirs  voisins,  par  Eusebe  Philadelphe 
(Theod.  Beza  ?)  Edimbourg  (Geneve  ?)  1574,  is  tolerably  rare.  The  only  copy  for 
sale,  which  I  know  of,  is  priced  about  £2  5^.  The  frst  part  of  the  work, 
is  merely  a  translation  of  the  Latin  Dialogtts  de  Cade  Hugonottorum,  &c., 
excudebat  Adamus  de  Monte.  Oragniae,  1573,— a  little  volume  by  no  means  equal 
in  interest  to  Hotman's  Vera  et  simplex  narratio  (of  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew)  auctore  Varamundo  Frisio,  l2mo,  Londini  (and  elsewhere),  1573. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY.  45 

The  intensity  of  feeling  expressed  in  a  publication  varies,  as  a  rule, 
— if  one  may  hazard  the  axiom — inversely  to  its  bulk  :  and  great 
is  the  amount  of  passion  and  enthusiastic  ratiocination  compressed 
into  the  pamphlet,  from  an  Invectiva  of  Poggio  on  the  poetry  of 
Lorenzo  Valla  (6  pp.  black  letter,  148 — ),  to  Tract  90,  or  even  the 
latest  threepenny  ebullition  on  Bimetallism  or  Fair  Trade.  More- 
over, since  it  is  only  bulky  and  pig-skinned  volumes  that  preserve 
themselves,  we  can  seldom  be  surprised  at  the  rarity  of  a  tract  which 
we  may  happen  to  want  for  any  of  the  diverse  reasons  above  dis- 
cussed, since  the  material  life  of  such  frail  things  is  but  the  matter  of 
a  day.  Like  flies,  indeed,  have  they  multiplied  at  all  epochs  of  excite- 
ment, and  like  flies  they  perish,  unless  stored  in  the  recueil  fadice, 
that  precious  repository  of  the  rare,  the  forgotten,  and,  very  often,  the 
unknown  and  consequently  uncatalogued. 

Hence  the  practical  collector  will  keep  open  for  such  volumes — 
obscurely  lettered,  imperfectly  indexed  in  MS. — an  eagle  eye.  His 
library  will  contain  scattered  among  its  memoirs  and  histories  a  dozen 
or  a  score  of  such  ephemera  as  indicate  the  high-water  mark,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  tidal  waves  of  feelings  which  have  at  various  periods 
disturbed  the  stream  of  History.  Small  quartos  for  the  "  Civil  War 
Tracts"  and  sermons  reflecting  on  Kings  and  Commonwealths; 
octavos  for  all  the  brood  of  the  "  Higuiero  Infierno  "  above  men- 
tioned, and  the  conciliatory  literature  that  followed  them ;  duo- 
decimos for  the  exciting  appeals  of  a  century  later,  L Europe  esclave 
si  V Angleterre  ne  ro7npt  ses  fers,  1678,  La  France  sans  Bornes,  &c., 
all  which  the  candidate  in  history  should  be  asked  to  "date  approxi- 
mately." Opuscula  thus  clearly  entitled,  and  even  perhaps  Proposals 
for  Reviving  Christianity  may  explain  themselves,  but  not  so  Loose 
Meat  for  the  Pigs,  even  with  year  and  full  title  given.  ^ 


^  At  the  end  of  an  8vo  volume  containing  the  political  works  of  Fletcher  of 
Saltoun,  1732,  The  Memoirs  of  Voltaire,  the  (violently  anti-religious)  "Chapter 
on  Dreams  "  from  a  MS.  part  of  Paine's  Age  of  Reason,  and  a  few  other  items,  I 
find  T,  Spence's  rare  and  curious  Satires  upon  the  House  of  Hanover — (1795). 


46  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RARITY. 

"Bvii  facile  princeps  of  all  pamphlets  of  the  age  when,  as  Arthur 
Young  tells  us,  every  morning  produced  a  new  swarm  (and  that  is, 
surely,  of  all  pamphlets  in  history),  stands  that  introductory  handbook 
to  the  French  Revolution,  the  famous  Qu'est-ce  que  le  Tiers  Atat  ? 
of  the  Abbe  Sibyes.^  We  do  not  know  that  this  work — a  thin 
volume  in  large  octavo,  dated  1789 — can  be  called  rare  or  recherche, 
even  in  the  first  edition,  but  it  is  certainly  not  common,  and  quite 
worthy  of  pursuit  for  its  own  sake. 

For  it  is  not  "  rarity  "  alone  or  in  chief  that  has  been-  here  con- 
sidered, but  the  reasons  which  have  produced  it,  or  should  "  if  men 
were  wise,"  produce  it.  And  on  the  shores  of  this  vast  and  trackless 
ocean  of  "  Ephemera,"  almost  all  rare  and  mostly,  we  may  surely  say, 
of  little  worth,  further  research  even  of  the  lightest  and  most  irregular 
kind  is  easily  deterred.  Here,  then,  with  a  tardy  regard  for  the 
reader's  patience,  shall  this  all  too  common  Discourse  of  Rarities  be 
brought  to  a  close. 

One  verse  of  its  truculent  poetry,  which  belongs  to  a  past  age  and  may  be  usefully 
contrasted  with  that,  for  example,  of  Mr.  Eric  Mackay,  runs  as  follows  : — 
"  Gruntum,  snorum 
In  terrorum 

Let  us  keep  de  Schwine  O  ! 
'Twill  save  from  chip  chop 
Our  stout  wig-block 
By  de  Guillotine  O  !  " 
In  vain  would  the  collector  look  nowadays  for  such  publications  at  the  "Hive 
of  Liberty "  in  Holbom  !         Some  dozen   i2mo  reflections  upon  the  dangerous 
greatness  of  France,  the  duty  of  Great  Britain,  &c.,  fill  a  dumpy  little  volume 
dated  1670  to  1700. 

1  ^me  edition,  s.l.  1789.  A  work  containing  many  original  and  striking  reflec- 
tions, which  are  as  interesting  to-day  as  they  were  a  century  ago.  The  lengthy 
anonymous  quotation  on  the  title-page — "  Tant  que  le  Philosophe  n'excede  point 
les  limites  de  la  verite,  ne  I'accusez  pas  d'aller  trop  loin,"  &c.,  might  serve  as  a 
compendium  of  French  idealism.  The  work  was  written  during  the  assembly 
of  notables  in  1788,  and  first  appeared  in  January  1789.  The  "  Three  Questions  " 
with  which  it  opens  have  become  historical — 
1°.  Qu'est-ce  que  le  Tiers  Etat? — Tout. 

2°.  Qu'a-t-il  ete  jusqu'  a  present  dans  I'ordre  politique  ? — Rien. 
3°.  Que  demande-t-il  ? — A  lire  qiielqtie  chose. 


II. 

A    GASCON     TRAGEDY 

(14TH   Century). 


From  De  FoLx's  Deduicts  de  la  Chasse  des  testes,  &c.  (1507).     V^rard.     (Brit.  Mus.c.  31,  m.  2.) 
See  Now  on  p.  53  post. 


A   GASCON   TRAGEDY. 

ERY  late  on  the  evening  of  St.  Catherine's  Day  (Nov. 
25),  in  the  year  1388,  Jean  Froissart,  Canon  and 
Treasurer  of  Chimay,  accompanied  by  a  friend,  rode 
into  the  little  town  of  Ortais  (some  twenty  mile& 
from  Pau),  and  dismounted  at  the  hostel  of  the 
"  Moon,"  a  small  inn  still  in  existence  and  known  to  modern  travel- 
lers as  "La  Belle  Hotesse."  ^ 

Having  sent  word  of  his  arrival  to  the  castle  of  the  Comte  de  P'oix, 
whom  he  had  come  to  visit  (with  the  view  of  acquiring  information 
at  first  hand  of  the  wars  in  Gascony  and  Spain),  the  historian,  who 
bore  letters  of  introduction  from  his  patron,  the  Comte  de  Blois,  was 
at  once  received  with  every  hospitality,  and  remained  as  his  lord- 
ship's guest,  so  he  expressly  tells  us,  for  more  than  twelve  weeks. 
Ortais,  or  Orthez  as  it  is  now  spelt,  was  once,  as  we  may  learn 

^  Chroitiqties  de  France,  Angleterre  et  d'Espaigtie.  Reveu  par  Denis  Sauvage- 
de  Fontenailles-en-Brie.  Fol.  Jan  deTournes,  Lyon,  1559-60-61  (Bk.  III.,  ch.  8). 
This  admirably  printed  edition  (the  first  edited  Froissart,  "peu  commune  .  .  . 
tres  belle — infiniment  superieure  aux  precedentes,"  Brunei),  which  bears  upon  its 
title  the  device  reproduced  on  the  next  page,  is  by  no  means  to  be  despised  for  the 
purposes  of  the  general  reader  :  who  should  moreover  possess  T.  Johnes's  Memoir, 
&=€.,  of  Froissart  (translated  loilh  additions  from  the  French  of  Ste.  Palaye) 
Svo,  Lond.  1 801.  The  complete  text  of  the  Chronicles  is  now  accessible  in  the 
twenty-five  volumes  published  by  Baron  Kervyn  de  Lettenhove.  Brussels,  1870,. 
&c.     The  story  here  rehearsed  will  be  found  in  vol.  xi. 

E 


X 


so  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

from  modern  guide-books,  a  place  of  considerable  importance,  and 
the  residence  of  the  Princes  of  Beam,  until,  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  they  removed  to  Pau. 

Of  the  "Castle  of  Moncada,"  built  after  a  Spanish  model  by 
Gaston  de  Foix  in  1240,  and  dismantled  by  Cardinal  Richelieu,  but 
one  stately  tower  and  a  few  ruined  walls  remain. 


The  associations  of  the  place  seem,  curiously  enough,  to  be 
mostly  of  a  sanguinary  cast.  On  the  heights  above  the  little  town 
(Feb.  27,  1814)  we  defeated  the  French  army  under  Soult  in  a 
bloody  engagement,  the  only  one  in  which  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
was  ever  injured. 

From  the  Gothic  Bridge,  or  rather  from  the  tower  in  the  centre 
of  it,  the  Calvinistic  soldiery,  who  took  the  tower  by  assault  in  1569, 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  51 

are  said  to  have  precipitated  into  the  river  the  Roman  Catholic 
priests  found  with  arms  in  their  hands,  who  refused  to  abjure  their 
TcHgion. 

Lastly,  the  castle — more  particularly  the  tower — was  the  scene 
of  unparalleled  crimes  during  the  life  of  the  brutal  Gaston  Phoebus, 
who  filled  its  dungeons  with  the  victims  of  his  unbridled  passion ; 
among  whom  were  his  kinsman,  the  Viscomte  de  Chateaubon,  Pierre 
Arnaut,  the  faithful  Governor  of  Lourdes,^  and  finally  his  own  son 
and  only  child,  whom  he  killed  with  his  knife  here  in  the  dark  cell  in 
which  he  had  caused  hiiii  to  be  immured.  "  Blanche  de  Navarre,"  we 
are  further  told,  "  was  poisoned  here  "  by  her  younger  sister,  the 
Comtesse  de  Foix.     That  was  in  1466. 

The  place  was  in  fact  a  complete  mediaeval  Chamber  of  Horrors, 
and  the  brutal  "  Gaston  Phoebus,"  Comte  de  Foix,  has  been  handed 
down  in  history  as  a  monster  of  profligate  iniquity  in  a  period  when 
such  celebrity  was  no  trifling  achievement. 

^  The  horrid  murder  of  Pierre  Arnaut  is  described  in  detail  [Chronique,  iii.  6) 
by  the  Chevalier  d'Espaing  du  Lyon,  whose  store  of  anecdotes  beguiled,  as  well 
they  might,  the  long  ride  from  Pamiers  (where  Froissart  had  met  him)  to  Ortais. 
The  Count,  his  relative  and  liege  lord,  having  invited  the  Governor  of  Lourdes  to  a 
parley,  adjured  him  to  give  up  the  citadel.  The  latter  declined,  with  profuse 
apologies,  saying  he  was  in  honour  bound  to  the  King  of  England,  who  had 
placed  him  there.  On  this  De  Foix,  in  mortal  rage,  drew  a  dagger,  and  cryjng 
"Ha,  traitor!  'No,'  sayest  thou?  By  this  head  it  shall  not  be  for  nought ! " 
stabbed  him  fiercely  in  five  places.  "  Oh,  my  lord  !  "  cried  Arnaut,  "you  do  no 
Icnightly  deed  to  send  for  me  and  then  murder  me  ! "  "  But  stabbed  he  was 
whether  he  liked  it  or  not "  {toutefois  il  eut  ces  cinq  coups  de  dague)  is  the  singular 
comment ;  and  the  Count  ordered  him  to  be  thrown  into  the  castle  ditch,  where 
he  shortly  afterwards  died.  But  not  a  knight  nor  baron  dared  stir  a  finger  to 
prevent  it.  .  .  .  De  Foix's  "neighbours,"  the  kings  of  France  and  England,  were, 
the  same  informant  tells  us,  a  perpetual  source  of  diplomatic  anxiety  to  this 
*'s^e  prince,"  who  was  careful  never  to  offend  unnecessarily  any  great  lord. 
He  could  levy  any  day  more  men-at-arms  than  either  of  the  kings  of  Aragon 
and  Navarre.  In  response  to  Froissart's  cross-examination,  his  companion  was 
going  on  to  recount  the  fate  of  young  Gaston,  but  it  was  too  late  for  so  long  a 
story,  as  the  travellers  were  just  then  arriving  at  Tarbes,  where  they  made  them- 
selves very  comfortable  at  the  "  Star," 

E   2 


52  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

During  the  fourteenth  century  the  feudal  system  was  at  the  height 
of  its  power ;  and  the  tremendous  forces  inevitably  developed 
within  itself  by  European  society  for  dealing  with  a  chronically 
recrudescent  chaos,  seemed  only  too  often — in  their  independence  of 
any  pubHc  opinion — to  act  in  the  direction  of  unmixed  evil. 

The  despotic  defiance  by  feudal  lords  (the  ideal  "  wicked  barons  " 
of  later  romance)  of  the  conceptions  of  right  and  wrong,  law  and 
outrage,  which  were  in  an  irregular  way  beginning  to  leaven  society,, 
is  a  thing  peculiar  to  the  age  when  the  power  of  the  former,  already 
at  its  zenith,  had  yet  no  cause  to  fear  extinction  from  the  new  in- 
fluences of  gunpowder,  the  printing-press,  and  general  enlighten- 
ment. 

This  is  one  of  the  great  sources  of  interest  attaching  to  the  period 
of  history  illuminated  for  us  by  the  brilliant  colouring  of  the  greatest 
of  born  chroniclers. 

Froissart  in  his  history  seems  to  live  for  the  purpose  of  accumu- 
lating information  on  every  subject  which  might  interest  posterity. 
Inconsistent,  inaccurate,  as  he  often  is,  heartless  {qui  pis  est)  as  he 
often  seems,  as  to  his  capacity  for  telHng  a  story  there  can  be  but 
one  opinion ;  and  nothing  in  his  whole  work  forms  a  more  complete,^ 
instructive,  and  dramatic  episode  than  that  briefly  and  incorrectly- 
abstracted  in  the  passage  we  have  quoted  from  Mr.  Murray's 
"  Guide." 

The  genealogy  of  the  Counts  of  Foix  and  Beam,  according  ta 
the  Art  de  Verifier  les  Dates,  extends,  with  but  one  break  of  the 
direct  succession,  from  the  tenth  century  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth,. 
where  it  merges  in  the  royal  house  of  Navarre ;  and  of  all  who  bore 
the  title  none  was  more  famous,  or  infamous,  than  the  particular 
Gaston  III.,  called  "  Phoebus,"  in  the  annals  of  the  De  Foix  family 
cited  by  Denis  Sauvage ;  whether  on  account  of  his  long  and  flow- 
ing hair,  his  general  personal  attractions,  or  of  his  passion  for  the 
chase,  seems  not  quite  certain.^  Certainly  no  one  would  con- 
^  See  a  note  in  De  Lettenhove's  edition. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY  53 

jecture,  from  Froissart's  description,  that  the  gentleman  who,  on  this 
November  evening,  in  the  year  of  grace  1388,  received  the  chronicler 
into  his  magnificent  chateau,  and  there  "made  him  good  cheer"  for 
some  three  months,  was  identical  with  the  "monster  of  iniquity,"  the 
brutal  tyrant  whose  cold-blooded  murder  of  his  only  son  brought  to 
axi  end  the  long  generations  of  the  ancient  barons  of  Foix. 

For  Proissart,  who  indubitably  saw  the  ogre  in  his  castle,  and  knew 
him,  as  we  might  say,  "  at  home,"  was,  it  may  fairly  be  presumed, 
disposed  to  take  people,  and  especially  the  rich  and  powerful,  as  he 
found  them,  with  perhaps  no  special  care  as  to  how  they  treated 
their  other  fellow-beings. 

The  Count  was  at  this  time,  he  tells  us,  about  fifty-nine  years  of 
age.  "  I  tell  you  I  have  seen  in  my  time  many  knights,  kings,  princes 
and  others,  but  never  none  have  I  seen  so  handsome,  so  tall,  so  well 
built,"  as  the  Count  Gaston  Phoebus.  He  was  so  perfect  in  all 
respects  ^u^on  fie  le  pouuoit  trop  louer — an  Admirable  Crichton,  in 
fact,  as  we  are  shown  by  the  detailed  portrait  that  follows. 

A  splendid  figure  of  a  man,  brave,  beautiful,  accomplished,  muni- 
ficent, with  a  bright  colour,  a  winning  smile,  and  green  eyes,  from 
which  darted  now  and  then  an  amorous  glance. 

A  sage  statesman,  and  a  wise  ruler,  a  skilful  and  daring  warrior 
(for  had  he  not  fought  in  all  parts  of  Europe,  slaughtered  the 
**  heathen "  in  Prussia,  engaged,  on  his  own  account,  the  Powers 
Spain,  England,  Aragon,  and  Navarre,  and  even  defied  the  King 
of  France  himself,  with  tolerable  success  ?),  "  he  loved  what  should 
be  loved,  and  hated  what  should  be  hated."  Most  regular  in  all 
religious  observances,  //  disoit  plante  (Toraisons,  with  every  night  a 
"Notturne  "  of  the  Psalter,  Hours  of  our  Lady,  The  Holy  Spirit,  and 
the  Cross,  with  Watches  for  the  Dead ;  and  every  day  five  florins 
given  in  small  change  to  the  poor,  and  alms  at  the  gate  for  all  comers. 
The  Count  was  also  an  ardent  sportsman,  and  even  an  author  upon 
his  favourite  subject,^  fond  of  dogs  above  all  animals — we  are  told 

1  The  book  is  entitled  Miroir  de  Fh3us  des  d^duits  de  la  Chasse  des  besies 


54  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

elsewhere  that  he  kept  several  hundred — liberal  and  hospitable. 
At  midnight,  the  dinner  hour,  twelve  varlets  carried  twelve  torches- 
to  light  him  and  his  numerous  guests  to  the  dining  hall,  where  a 
plentiful  banquet  was  daily  spread  pour  souper  qui  souper  vouloiL 
None  spoke  to  the  Count  (who,  by  the  way,  was  particularly  partial 
to  fo7vl,  especially  the  legs  and  wings)  unless  first  addressed.  At 
other  times  he  was  approachable  by  any  one,  and  spoke  them  fair 
and  "  lovingly,"  though  his  answers  were  brief  and  presumably  to  the 
point.^  The  castle  was,  of  course,  thronged  with  knights  and  squires 
from  all  quarters ;  it  was  a  great  centre  of  news,  and  there  was  much 
talk  of  "  love  "  and  "  feats  of  arms,"  the  principal  "  news  "  in  the  good 
old  days  of  Jean  Froissart. 

Then  there  was  music.  The  Count  was  well  skilled  in  the  art, 
and  had  many  a  song,  rondeau,  and  virelet  sung  before  him  of  an 
evening.  These  fanciful  forms  of  verse  were  just  becoming  popular. ^ 
Froissart,  moreover — on  such  terms  were  the  two — had  brought  the 

Sauvaiges  6r*  des  oyseaux  de  proie,  and  seems  to  have  been  first  printed  in  black 
letter  about  1505,  and  by  Anthoine  Verard  (in  1507)  with  woodcut  illustrations,  of 
which  two  editions  copies  are  in  the  British  Museum.  De  Foix  is  cited  as  a 
great  authority  on  sport  by  Jacques  de  Fouilloux  in  his  Veturie,  4to.  .1585. 
Froissart,  who  brought  the  Count  four  greyhounds  (called  Tristan,  Hector,  Brown, 
and  Roland)  from  England,  was  himself,  as  he  travelled  on  horseback  with  his 
portmanteau  behind  him,  always  accompanied  by  one  of  these  animals,  (See 
Sainte-Palaye's  Memoires  sur  [ancienne  Chevalerie,  la  Chasse,  &c.,  3  vols.  8vo, 
1 78 1  ;  a  work  containing  several  valuable  original  texts.) 

^  E.g.,  on  the  critical  occasion  of  the  defection  of  d'Armagnac,  when  others 
thought  of  retreat.  "  As  we  are  here,  my  lord,"  said  De  Foix  to  his  father,  "  we 
will  fight  your  enemies,"  and  he  started  off  with  1,700  men  at  helm,  and  d.ooo- 
foot,  killed  11,000  Spaniards,  and  chased  their  king  out  to  sea,  bringing  his  son 
and  brother  home  as  prisoners.     The  Count  was  then  quite  a  young  man. 

^  Massieu  {Hist,  de  la  Pohie  Francaise,  8vo,  1739)  says  that  Froissart  did  mucb 
to  bring  them  into  vogue.  Of  the  poems  composed  by  the  worthy  canon  himself, 
Estienne  Pasquier  {Recherches  de  la  France,  Book  vi.,  ch.  5)  gives  a  list  takea 
from  a  volume  of  the  same  which  he  had  seen  in  Francis  I.'s  library  at  Fontaine- 
bleau.  One  of  these  pieces,  cited  by  Sainte-Palaye  {Memoirs  of  Froissart),  was- 
a  pastoral  in  honour  of  Gaston  Phoebus — a  truly  Arcadian  subject ! 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  55 

Count  a  precious  volume  written  oilt  by  himself  at  the  request  of 
King  Wincelaus  of  Bohemia,  Duke  of  Luxemburg  and  Brabant,  and 
containing  all  that  "gentle  Duke's " ^  poetical  works.  Every  night 
after  dinner  was  Froissart  requested  to  read  this  book  aloud  (it  was 
called,  he  tells  us,  "  Meliader  "),  and  during  the  reading  no  one  dared 
to  utter  a  sound,  so  anxious  was  the  Count  that  it  should  be  heard 
properly;  but  such  literary  points  as  occurred  to  him  he  would 
himself  discuss  with  the  reader,  "  not  in  his  native  Gascon^  but  in 
good  French  and  fair ^ 

In  truth,  De  Foix  was  quite  an  ideal  host,  and  with  all  the  lavish 
munificence  of  his  court  (no  visitor  departed  without  a  handsome 
douceur),  a  careful  and  strict  man  of  business.  He  kept,  a  safe  in  his 
private  room.  Twelve  agents  managed  the  estates,  under  a  controller, 
who  had  to  show  vouchers  for  everything  to  the  Count  himself;  and 
there  were  four  copying-clerks  who  had  to  be  ready  {bien  convenoit 
que  fussent prests)  when  the  master  of  Foix  stepped  hurriedly  out  of 
his  study  to  read  and  answer  letters. 

This  last  detail  of  the  accounts  has  a  touch  almost  of  Gilbertian 
burlesque  when  we  consider  that  after  a  successful  foray  among  the 
Armagnacs^or  other  relatives  or  neighbours,  the  popular  form  of  rural 
visit  in  the  fourteenth  century,  there  would  frequently  be  a  dozen 
or  a  score  of  distinguished  prisoners  in  the  dungeons  at  Orthez. 
The  "bag"  made  at  Cassibres  in  1362  alone  {d'une  seule  prise)^ 

^  The  Royal  baUadmonger  is  no  other  than  the  Wincelaus,  King  of  Bohemia, 
Emperor  of  Germany  and  son  of  Charles  IV.,  known  to  history  as  "the 
drunkard,"  whose  cruelties  and  debauchery  earned  him  the  name  of  the  "Nero  of 
Germany."  He  succeeded  his  father  in  1378,  and  having  been  bom  in  1359, 
must  now  have  been  in  his  thirtieth  or  thirty-first  year.  His  sister  married  the 
unfortunate  Richard  H.,  and  became  the  "good  Queen  Anne"  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  who  protected  the  Lollards,  and  introduced  the  side-saddle  into  England. 

^  The  endless  quarrels  of  D'Armagnac  arose  from  the  claims  of  the  latter 
(who  had  been  disinherited  by  his  father  for  not  appearing  in  arms  against  the 
Spaniards,  v.  note,  p.  54)  to  certain  rights  then  conferred  upon  the  hero  of  this 
story. 


56  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

as  described  in  a  previous  chapter,  which  included  the  Count 
D'Armagnac  (husband  of  De  Foix's  eldest  sister)  himself,  and  many 
inferior  nobles,  brought  in  a  sum  total  of  1,800,000  francs,  doubtless 
duly  apportioned  on  the  credit  side  of  the  "  roolles  &  livres  escrits  " 
aforesaid,  minus  the  expense  of  each  prisoner's  board  and  lodging. 
For  the  Count  "  never  loved  wild  debauch,  nor  foolish  extravagance, 
but  would  know  each  month  what  became  of  his  property."  His 
economy  is  exhibited  in  an  anecdote  related  elsewhere,  but  which,  as 
Froissart  himself  is  so  fond  of  saying,  is  not  altogether  out  of  place 
here,  although  it  chiefly  illustrates  the  popular  practical  joke  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  One  Christmas  night,  when  the  house  was 
crowded  with  guests,  an  intimate  friend  and  neighbour,  one  Ernauton 
d'Espaigne  (a  gentleman  of  remarkable  physique),  happened  to  be  in 
the  great  gallery,  to  which  you  go  up  by  twenty-four  steps,  where  there 
was  a  chimney,  and  sometimes,  when  the  Count  de  Foix  was  at  home, 
a  very  small  fire — such  was  his  rule — and  on  other  occasions  none 
at  all,  however  cold  it  was.  "  Lord,  what  a  wretched  fire,"  exclaimed 
the  cheery  D'Espaigne,  who  had  probably  been  out  hunting  all  day, 
^'  for  such  a  frosty  night ! "  and  without  more  ado  he  tripped  off 
down  the  gallery  and  steps,  and  out  into  the  courtyard,  where,  as  he 
had  noticed  from  the  windows,  there  chanced  to  be  a  number  of 
donkeys  standing  laden  with  wood.  Promptly  seizing  the  biggest, 
he  carried  it  upstairs  on  his  shoulders,  and  threw  the  animal,  feet 
uppermost,  wood  and  all,  upon  the  fire,  amid  roars  of  laughter  from 
De  Foix  and  the  company.  This  was  on  a  festive  occasion,  and 
neither  ass  nor  wood  belonged,  as  it  happened,  to  the  Count.  But 
to  return  to  our  serious  narrative.  .  .  .  "And  well  as  any  did  he  know 
whom  to  trust,  and  how  to  take  what  belonged  to  him  " — without,  we 
may  be  sure,  waiting  to  be  asked.  Nor  need  we  wonder  that  he  was 
continually  amassing  treasure  against  a  rainy  day ;  for  even  so  great  a 
lord  was  anxious,  we  are  reminded,  as  to  the  future. 

But  with  all  this  external  splendour  and  prosperity  there  was  a 
skeleton  in  the  cupboard,  a  death's  head  at  the  nightly  banquet. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  57 

The  Comte  de  Foix  and  Madame  his  lady  were  not  on  good 
terms,  nor  had  been  for  a  long  time  :  and  their  only  son  was,  alas  ! 
no  more.  On  this  latter  point  Sir  John,  as  we  know,  was  curious. 
He  had  probably  too  much  tact  to  ask  De  Foix  himself  how  the 
death  (of  which  he  had  heard  from  his  fellow-traveller  D'Espaigne) 
had  occurred.  The  green  eyes  might  have  replied  with  a  flash  of 
something  different  from  love.  So  he  discreetly  inquired  of  an 
ancient  and  notable  "  Esquire  "  of  the  House,  and  heard  and  re- 
corded for  our  benefit  the  whole  "  piteous  tale." 

It  is  far  from  being  the  only  tale,  the  only  family  scandal 
recorded  by  an  indefatigable  chronicler,  who,  if  he  lacked  depth 
of  feeling  and  perception,  was  at  least  singleminded  in  his  indus- 
try. For  some  forty  years,  as  we  know,  he  never  rested — travell- 
ing, inquiring,  exploring  records  and  documents,  and  sparing  no 
expense  (which  his  own  or  a  patron's  purse  could  supply),  and 
nightly  noting  down  the  results  of  his  labours.  And  even  had  he 
deliberately  gone  aside  to  falsify  the  personal  character  of  an 
important  personage  in  history,  he  might  have  given  good  politic 
reasons  for  it.  Suppose  the  account  written — nothing  is  more 
likely — during  the  early  part  of  his  stay  at  Orthez,  and  that  the 
gentle  Count  had  asked  him  one  evening  to  read  aloud  his  own 
work  instead  of  those  eternal  rondeaux  and  virelets  of  the  "  German 
Nero,"  nay,  even  insisted  on  despatching  one  of  his  ready  "clerks  " 
to  fetch  the  MS. :  how  then  ?  And,  to  take  the  least  danger,  fancy 
quarrelling,  on  account  of  a  few  private  peccadilloes,  with  a  man  who 
had  such  priceless  information  to  give  relating  to  every  war  of  the 
last  twenty  years !  Doubtless  Froissart  acted  for  the  best.  The 
probability  is  also  that  his  hasty  and  brilliant  portrait  was  perfectly 
sincere.  In  any  case  it  forms  an  admirable  introduction  to  the 
tragedy  that  follows.  If  it  is  difficult  not  to  smile  at  the  after-dinner 
eloquence  of  Froissart's  account  of  his  noble  host ;  nothing  more 
natural  was  ever  penned  by^any  easy-going  and  uncritical  visitor 
entertained  in  so  sympathetic  and  sumptuous  a  style. 


58  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

The  Count  and  his  lady — so  said  the  ancient  esquire  in  private 
conference  with  the  Canon — were  not,  "  truth  to  tell,"  on  good  terms. 
The  reason  was  simplicity  itself.  The  Countess  was  the  sister  of  the 
King  of  Navarre,  by  whom  the  Sieur  d'Albreth  had  been  "  pledged  " 
with  the  Count,  for  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  francs.  ^  He  was  kept 
in  one  of  the  dungeons  at  Orthez  by  his  uncle  Gaston.  The  latter 
knowing  the  King  of  Navarre  to  be  "  crafty  and  malicious,"  was 
unwilling,  in  spite  of  the  entreaties  of  the  Countess,  to  trust  his 
brother-in-law  for  this  large  amount,  and  the  event  seems  to  show  that 
he  here  exhibited  the  prudence  for  which  Froissart  gave  him  credit. 

But  the  lady  was  bitterly  wroth.  "  My  lord,"  said  she,  "you  do 
but  scant  honour  to  the  King  my  brother  when  you  will  not  trust 
him  for  fifty  thousand  francs.  If  you  never  got  more  out  of  the 
Arniagnacs  and  Labrissiens  ^  than  you  have  had  already"  she  con- 
tinued, treating  the  Count's  commercial  warfare  with  his  relatives  as 
one  might  an  abuse  of  their  hospitality,  ^^  that  should  suffice  you  ;''' 
and  she  concluded  with  a  clinching  argument.  Fifty  thousand 
francs  was  the  precise  amount  of  the  marriage  settlement  which 
her  lord,  as  she  reminds  him  with  some  asperity,  was  bound 
to  hand  over  to  Monseigneur  her  brother,  presumably  in  trust  for 
her.  To  which  the  Count  Gaston  Phoebus  replied  curtly,  "  Madam, 
you  say  truth.  But  if  I  thought  the  King  of  Navarre  would  so 
reckon  the  sum,  the  Sieur  D'Albret  should  never  leave  Orthez  till  I 
had  been  paid  the  last  penny.  But  since  you  ask  it,  I  will  let  him 
go,  not  for  love  of  you,  but  of  my  son." 

^  Compare  the  figures  given  above  (p.  56).  These  were  gold  francs,  first  coined 
in  1360,  and  cOiX&d,  francs  a  cheval  (from  their  bearing  a  mounted  figure  of  the 
king)  as  distinguished  from  the  franc  ct.  pied  introduced  by  Charles  V.  Silver 
francs  do  not  appear  till  1575.     Cheruel,  Diet,  des  Institutions,  ^c. 

The  franc  d'or  may  be  roughly  valued  at  about  £\.  The  ransom  of  King  John 
when  captured  at  Poictiers  in  1356  was  3,ooo,ckdo  crowns,  or  something  between 
one  and  a  half  and  two  million  pounds  sterling.  But  the  fluctuations  of  money 
values  in  the  fourteenth  century  baffle  calculation.      Vide  Michelet,  Hist.  Fr. 

*  Those  of  Labreth,  otherwise  called  Albreth.     Sauvage. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  59. 

And  at  this  point  we  may  conjecture  how  the  speaker  "  parted 
with  huge  strides  among  his  dogs." 

So,  however,  the  matter  was  arranged.^  D'Albreth  gave  a  bond 
to  his  highness  of  Navarre  (who  became  De  Foix's  debtor)  and  went 
back  to  France,  where  he  married  the  Duke  of  Bourbon's  sister. 
Before  that,  however,  he  had  repaid  "  at  his  ease  "  the  sum  due  to- 
the  King  of  Navarre.  But  it  was  never  forwarded  to  De  Foix. 
Therefore  he  suggested  that  the  Countess  should  pay  a  visit  to  her 
brother  and  explain  that  the  Count  took  it  much  amiss  that  he  was 
not  paid  "what  was  his."  The  lady  readily  consented  to  do  so,  and 
went  off  to  the  court  at  Pamplona  to  her  brother,  who  received  her 
gladly.  The  Countess  gave  him  her  message  straight  to  the  point. 
But  the  King  (who  also  had  a  genius  for  saying  what  he  meant) 
replied,  "  My  fair  sister,  that  money  is  yours ;  De  Foix  owes  it  you 
for  dower,  and  long  as  I  have  control  over  it  never  out  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Navarre  shall  it  go." 

"  Nay,  my  lord,"  quoth  the  Countess,  "that  will  be  to  make  too- 
great  hatred  betwixt  myself  and  the  Count.    If  you  hold  to  your  word 

1  The  business-like  manner  in  which  these  affairs  were  conducted  may  be 
seen  from  the  case  mentioned  in  another  chapter  (HI.).  The  ransom  of  the 
Count  d'Armagnac  amounted  to  26o,cxx}  francs.  The  Prince  of  Wales  ("The 
Black  Prince  ")  on  one  occasion,  being  requested  to  beg  him  off,  replied  (with  that 
royal  tact  and  good  sense  to  which  we  are  still  accustomed)  that,  ' '  all  things  con- 
sidered," he  could  not  undertake  to  do  so.  "You  were  taken,"  he  replied  to 
D'Armagnac,  "  in  fair  fight,  and  our  cousin  De  Foix  risked  his  person  and  men 
in  adventure  against  you,  and  you  must  abide  the  result.  Neither  my  royal 
father  nor  myself  would  like  to  be  asked  to  give  up  what  we  have  lawfully  got."' 
In  fact,  they  inclined  (as  no  one  has  told  us  better  than  Froissart)  rather  to  the 
opposite  course,  .  .  .  The  Princess  approached  the  subject  in  the  kindness  of  her 
heart,  with  feminine  artfulness,  by  asking  vaguely  for  a  gift.  But  the  noble  Gaston 
Phoebus,  qui  en  ses  besongnes  assez  cler  veoil,  was  too  many  for  her.  He  was,  he 
said,  a  poor  knight  in  quite  a  small  way  ("petit  home"),  who  could  not  make 
expensive  presents  ;  he  had  many  outgoings,  castles  and  towns  to  build  (the 
magnificent  chateau  at  Pau,  famous  as  the  birthplace  of  Henry  IV. ,  was  in  fact 
then  in  course  of  reconstruction) ;  and  he  only  consented,  as  a  great  favour,  to- 
knock  off  the  odd  60,000  francs. 


6o  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

I  shall  not  dare  return  to  my  lord.  He  will  slay  mCr  He  will  say  I 
liave  deceived  him." 

"  I  don't  know,"  concluded  her  royal  brother,  "  what  you  will  do 
{ie  ne  say  que  vous  ferez),  whether  you  will  go  or  whether  you  will 
stay  :  but  I  am  master  of  this  money  to  take  care  of  it  for  you,  and 
it  will  never  go  out  of  Navarre." 

So  the  Countess  also  stayed,  for  she  did  not  dare  return  to  Foix ; 
and  the  Count,  who  had  been  on  good  terms  with  her  before,  began 
to  be  consumed  with  hatred  against  her,  though  she  was  in  nought 
to  blame,  for  not  giving  his  message  (he  knew  the  malice  of  the  King)* 
and  returning  to  him.  And  thus  matters  remained.  Now  the  young 
Gaston,  son  ^  of  my  lord,  was  grown  to  a  fine  youth,  tall  and  hand- 
some, very  like  his  father  in  build.  Being  now  some  fifteen  or 
sixteen  years  of  age,  he  was  married  to  a  young  lady,  the  daughter 
■of  the  Comte  d'Armagnac,  "  sister  of  the  present  Count " ;  and  it 
was  hoped  that  this  alliance  would  heal  the  feud  between  the  two 
families. 

And  the  fancy  took  him  to  pay  a  visit  to  his  uncle  and  his  mother 
in  Navarre ;  and  he  went,  and  stayed  there  some  little  time,  and  then 
took  his  leave.  But  he  could  not,  by  any  means,  persuade  his 
mother  to  return  with  him.  For  she  asked,  had  the  Count,  his 
Jather,  specially  charged  him  to  bring  her  back  ?  and  the  boy  could 
only  say.  No ;  there  had  been  no  special  mention  of  that  at  his 
departure.  So  she  dared  not  come.  For  she  knew  her  husband  to 
be  cruel  (this  and  the  remark  of  Arnaut's  quoted  above  are  the 
first  suggestions  that  he  was  anything  but  "  gentil  "),  at  least,  in 
matters  where  he  found  cause  for  displeasure.  So  Gaston  went  alone 
to  take  leave  of  his  uncle  the  King  at  Pampelune. 

^  Only  son  born  of  the  Countess.  He  had  two  others,  of  one  of  whom  we  hear 
presently.  On  the  death  of  the  Count,  Yvain,  here  described  as  ill-disposed, 
made  an  attempt  to  seize  the  inheritance.  The  Count  had  expressed  a  wish  after 
the  death  of  young  Gaston  to  prefer  his  illegitimate  offspring  to  the  legitimate 
heir,  Chateaubon,  of  whom  he  had  a  poor  opinion. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  6i 

The  King  of  Navarre  received  him  hospitably,  and  gave  rich 
presents  both  to  the  young  Count  and  to  his  attendants,  and  kept 
him  there  ten  days. 

Just  before  their  departure,  Gaston's  uncle  drew  him  aside  and 
gave  him  a  little  purse  full  of  powder,  and  said,  "  Fair  nephew,  you 
must  do  as  I  tell  you.  You  are  aware  that  the  Comte  de  Foix  is 
wrongly  enraged  with  your  mother  and  my  sister,  which  I  much 
regret,  as  doubtless  do  you.  Now,  to  bring  them  on  good  terms 
again,  as  soon  as  you  have  opportunity,  take  a  little  of  this  powder 
(be  sure  no  one  sees  you)  and  put  it  upon  his  food  :  and  as  soon  as 
ever  he  has  eaten  it,  his  one  desire  will  be  but  to  have  your  mother 
again  with  him,  and  they  will  love  one  another  and  live  together 
in  peace  :  which  you  must  surely  desire.  But  be  sure  to  tell 
no  one." 

And  the  boy  believed  every  word,  and  replied  he  would  gladly  do- 
it :  and  so  went  home,  and  was  gaily  received  by  his  father,  and 
showed  him  the  presents — all  but  one. 

Now  in  the  De  Foix  mansion  it  was  usual  for  Yvain,  the  bastard, 
to  share  the  chamber  of  Gaston,  and  they  loved  one  another  from 
children  like  true  brothers  ;  and  being  much  of  one  size  and  age 
they  even  wore  each  other's  coats  and  clothes.  And  it  happened 
one  day,  as  will  with  boys,  that  their  clothes  got  mixed  up,  and 
that  Gaston's  coat  got  upon  the  bed  of  Yvain,  and  the  latter,  a 
mischievous  boy,  noticed  the  powder  in  its  little  bag,  and  asked 
Gaston,  "What  is  this  thing  that  you  wear  at  your  breast ? "  Of 
this  word  Gaston  had  no  joy  at  all,  but  cried  "  Give  me  back  the 
coat.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  you."  And  Yvain  threw  it  him,  and 
Gaston  put  it  on,  and  was  more  thoughtful  than  ever  before,  that  day. 
And  it  happened  (as  God  would,  to  save  the  Comte  de  Foix)  that 
three  days  later  Gaston  quarrelled  with  his  brother  at  fives,  and 
boxed  his  ears.  And  the  boy  Yvain,  angered  and  sulky,  went 
crying  to  the  Count's  chamber,  where  he  found  him,  having  just 
heard  a  mass. 


€2  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY, 

"  What  do  you  want,  Yvain  ?  " 

"  God's  name,  my  lord,  Gaston  has  beaten  me,  but  he  deserves  a 
beating  more  than  I  do." 

*'  Why  so  ?  "  said  the  Count,  who  at  once  became  suspicious. 

"  My  faith  !  since  he  came  back  from  Navarre  he  carries  at  his 
breast  a  little  bag  all  full  of  powder,  but  I  know  not  what  use  it 
is  or  what  he  will  do  with  it :  but  that  he  has  told  me  once  or  twice 
that  my  lady,  his  mother,  will  soon  be  in  your  good  graces  more 
than  ever  before." 

The  unconscious  Yvain  was  dismissed  with  the  strictest  injunction 
to  hold  his  tongue. 

The  Count,  we  are  told,  then  spent  a  long  time  in  thought,  till  the 
dinner-hour,  when  he  entered  the  hall  and  took  his  seat  as  usual. 

According  to  the  feudal  custom  of  the  day,  the  son  Gaston  waited 
upon  his  father,  handing  him  the  successive  courses,  and  tasting  each 
one  himself. 

He  had  no  sooner  placad  the  first  dish  before  the  Count,  when 
the  latter,  with  a  quick  glance,  detected  the  strings  of  the  mysterious 
purse  hanging  at  the  boy's  vest.^  Le  sang  luy  mua,  and  that  not  for 
the  first  or  second  time,  in  Froissart's  brief  account  of  one  who  never 
forgave  an  injury  and  whose  wrath  was  dreaded  like  the  plague  by 
€ven  his  adult  and  powerful  enemies. 

"Gaston,"  he  said,  "come  here.  I  would  speak  with  you 
privately." 

Deathly  pale,  trembling  and  confounded,  the  boy  stepped  forward, 
feeling  that  he  was  undone,  as  the  Count,  fumbUng  at  his  breast, 
seized  the  fatal  purse,  drew  it  out,  and  taking  a  knife  from  the  table 
cut  it  open  and  found  the  powder. 

^  The  similar  discovery  described  in  Shakespeare's  Richard  II.,  Act  v.  Sc.  3 
{a  drama  representing  the  same  period  as  Froissart's  story),  will  recur  to  many 
readers.  In  Aumerle's  case  the  seal  "that  hangs  without  his  bosom"  betrays  to 
his  father,  the  Duke  of  York  (by  what  seems  an  extraordinary  piece  of  carelessness), 
his  possession  of  a  treasonable  document. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  63 

Putting  some  of  it  on  a  slice  of  bread,  he  called  a  dog  and  gave  it 
him  to  eat.  The  dog  no  sooner  tasted  it  than  he  rolled  his  eyes  and 
lay  dead  on  the  floor.^ 

The  wrath  of  Gaston  Phoebus  broke  all  bounds,  and  in  a  moment 
his  son  would  have  fared  like  Pierre  Arnaut,  but  on  this  more  im- 
portant occasion  knights  and  esquires  rushed  in  between  the  two, 
imploring  the  Count  at  least  to  inquire  further  into  the  matter.  But 
his  first  cry  was,  "  What  !  Gaston,  caitiff !  For  you  and  the  heritage 
that  should  be  yours  have  I  had  war  and  haired  against  the  Kings  of 
France,  England,  Spain,  Aragon,  Navarre,  and  held  my  own  against 
them,  and  now  you  would  murder  me !  You  shall  die  for  it."  And 
he  rushed  from  the  table  with  his  knife  and  would  have  killed  the 
boy.  But  friends  and  retainers  fell  on  their  knees  in  tears  before 
him.  "  Ah,  good  my  lord,  for  God's  sake,  mercy  ;  slay  not  Gaston. 
You  will  have  no  other  son.  Let  him  be  put  in  ward,  but  wait  and 
judge  of  the  matter,  for  belike  he  had  no  guilt  in  the  deed,  and  knew 
not  what  he  brought." 

"  Away  with  him,  then,"  cried  the  enraged  Count,  "  to  the  tower." 
And  there  was  the  boy  imprisoned.  Of  the  companions  that  had 
attended  him  to  Navarre  many  were  arrested,  and  many  prudently 
"  departed."  But  fifteen  were  put  to  death  "  most  horribly  "  ;  for  the 
Count  did  not  see  how  he  could  do  otherwise,  since  they  were  in 
the  secrets  of  his  son.  And  this,  we  are  told,  did  move  some  to  pity, 
for  they  were  as  pleasant  and  well-looking  esquires  as  any  in  all 
Gascony.  But  they  had  never  told  of  young  Gaston's  wearing  the 
fatal  purse  (perhaps  they  never  knew),  and  for  that  they  died  "  most 
horribly."  The  news  of  these  tragical  proceedings  spread  soon  over 
the  whole  country  :  and  the  feeling  which  they  aroused  seems  to 

1  Of  the  King  of  Navarre— Charles    II.   "the  bad"   (1347-86)— it  may  be 
observed  that  he  had  attempted,  in  a  similar  manner,  the  lives  of  the  two  un- 
popular uncles  of  Charles  VI.  of  France  ;  but  he  employed  an  English  agent  who 
bungled  the  matter.     (See  Chapuy's  curious  Hist,  du  Royaume  de  Navarre,  8vo,    X 
1 596,  where  this  story  is  told  with  a  few  variations. ) 


64  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

show  the  Comte  de  Foix  in  a  pleasing  Hght.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  he  was  a  popular  landlord  in  the  feudal  sense.  He  looked  after 
his  own  and  protected  them  with  the  strong  hand,  as  with  a  strong 
and  merciless  hand  he  had  suppressed  the  terrible  rising  of  the 
"Jacquerie."  Knightly  adventurers  who  returned  with  great  plenty 
of  plunder  and  prisoners  from  forays  in  other  quarters,  dared  not 
touch  a  thing  on  the  De  Foix  property  without  paying  for  it — for 
they  might  not  *'  abide  "  his  wrath  :  and  not  the  precipitous  pass  of 
Lagarde,  where  half  a  dozen  might  hold  a  host  at  bay,  could  keep 
back  Gaston  Phoebus  when  "  greatly  desirous  to  get  by  "  that  way,  to 
succour  his  people  at  Pamiers. 

So  the  nobles  and  prelates,  the  estates  of  Beam,  in  fact,  gladly 
assembled  to  intercede  for  the  imprisoned  youth.  For  when  the 
Count  briefly  expounded  the  crime  and  his  fixed  intention  of  putting 
his  son  to  death  "as  he  deserved,"  they,  without  argumentation,  all 
with  one  voice  expressed  their  particular  desire,  "  saving  his  good 
grace,''  that  Gaston  should  not  die.  By  these  entreaties  the  Count, 
it  is  said,  was  seriously  moved.  He  bethought  himself,  and  medi- 
tated punishing  the  boy  by  a  term  of  imprisonment,  then  sending 
him  for  three  or  four  years'  travel,  till  change  of  air  had  cured  the 
inherent  viciousness  of  his  disposition.  And  with  this  assurance  he 
sent  the  company  away.  But  those  who  knew  him  best  would  not 
leave  without  a  positive  promise  of  mercy, — tant  ai7noye7it  reufa?it  ,- 
and  the  Count  promised,  and  they  all  went.  No  one  seems  to  have 
thought  of  consulting  the  boy  himself,  who  remained  shut  up  in  the 
Tower  of  Orthais,  in  a  chamber  "  where  there  was  little  light."  In 
similar  apartments,  as  we  know,  other  relatives  of  the  Count  had 
been  detained  for  periods  varying  according  to  their  financial  circum- 
stances. Among  others,  his  own  heir,  Chateaubon  (a  young 
"  coward,"  in  whom  the  Count  could  not  be  expected  to  take  much 
interest),  had  spent  eight  weeks  there,  and  paid  for  such  sumptuous 
lodgings  at  the  rate  of  5,000  francs  a  week.  Yet  the  young  Gaston, 
imprisoned  only  for  ten  days,  seems  to  have  taken  it  more  to  heart. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  65 

Confined,  "  as  he  was,"  and  in  his  clothes  (a  thing,  we  pathetically- 
read,  he  was  not  used  to),  he  grew  even  more  melancholy,  and  cursed 
the  hour  when  he  was  born.  He  would  not  eat,  and  when  the 
servants  brought  him  his  food  (and  we  are  specially  told  what  nice 
servants  they  were)  and  said,  "  Gaston,  here  is  your  dinner,"  he 
would  only  say,  "  Put  it  there,"  and  took  no  further  notice. 

The  event  had  been  so  noised  abroad  that  Pope  Gregory  XI. 
sent  a  Cardinal  from  Avignon ^  to  try  to  accommodate  matters; 
but  the  Cardinal  was  stopped  half-way  by  the  news  that  it  was  too 
late. 

"  Having  told  you  so  much,"  says  the  ancient  esquire  as  if 
Froissart  would  have  let  him  stop  there,  "  I  may  as  well  tell  you  the 
end."  And  thus  it  was.  A  servant  having  informed  the  Count  that 
Gaston  would  not  eat,  and  that  his  food  lay  there  all  untasted,  and 
implored  him  to  take  thought  for  his  son,  the  indignant  father 
strode  upstairs  to  the  tower,  trimming  his  nails  the  while,  as  ill  luck 
would  have  it,  with  a  small  knife.  The  prison  door  being  opened, 
he  went  up  to  the  boy  standing  in  the  corner  (consumed  with 
we  know  not  what  innocent  indignation,  faint  with  hunger,  and 
trembling  before  the  wrath  of  his  father),  and,  angrily  asking  him 
what  he  meant  by  not  eating,  the  baron,  with  his  right  hand,  in  which 
the  knife  was  covered,  "all  but  the  size  of  a  gold  piece,"  "jobbed" 
him,  as  one  would  say,  roughly,  in  the  neck,  and  went  downstairs 
again.     The  blade,  it  seemed,  could  hardly  have  touched  the  fleshy 

^  This  shows  that  the  death  of  Gaston  must  have  taken  place  in  1377  (when. 
Gregory  XL,  who  died  the  next  year,  restored  the  Papal  seat  to  Rome)  or  earlier, 
i.e.  at  least  eleven  years  before  Froissart's  visit  to  Orthez.  The  bastard  Yvain 
grew  up  a  likely  and  handsome  youth,  went  to  Court,  and  was  a  great  favourite  of 
the  young  King  Charles  VI.  During  a  '*  mummery  "  (at  the  Hotel  de  St.  Pol.  in 
Paris,  mardy  avaiit  le  Chandeleitr,  1382),  in  which  the  latter  and  several  of  the 
young  nobility  dressed  up  as  "savages,"  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  by  holding  a 
torch  too  near,  accidentally  set  their  inflammable  costumes  on  fire.  From 
this  accident  Yvain  lost  his  life,  and  the  king  himself  ran  considerable  risk^ 
— Chroniques,  IV.,  52. 

F 


66  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

anything  to  speak  of;  but  by  ill  fate  it  chanced  upon  a  vein,  and 
under  the  circumstances  that  was  enough.  Poor  young  Gaston, 
the  hope  of  the  De  Foixs,  "  turned  aside  "  from  this  trying  world  of 
alchemist-uncles  and  suspicious  cut-throat  fathers,  and  then  and 
there  died. 

When  the  Count  heard  of  it  (he  had  only  just  got  back  to  his 
room,  and  would  not  believe  the  news  at  first,  till  he  had  sent  some 
one  to  see)  he  was  taken  with  one  of  his  chronic  attacks  of  indig. 
nation,  mingled,  we  may  believe,  with  some  serious  regret  that  he 
had  not  been  more  careful. 

"  Ah,  Gaston,"  was  his  exclamation,  "  an  ill  chance  this  for  me  and 
thee.  I  shall  never  know  such  joy  again  as  I  had  before.  Woe 
worth  the  day  thou  wentest  to  Navarre ; "  and  he  sent  at  once  for 
his  barber,  and  then  ordered  mourning  for  himself  and  his  retainers. 

There  was  a  grand  funeral,  of  course,  and  much  weeping  and 
•wailing,  and  that  was  all. 

And  thus  did  God  preserve  the  gentle  Comte  de  Foix  from  the 
wiles  of  his  royal  relative      But  it  was  not  for  very  long. 

Three  years  later  we  find  Gaston  Phoebus  in  the  woods  of 
Sauveterre — after  a  long  summer  morning  devoted  to  his  favourite 
pastime  of  hunting — they  had  just  killed  and  cured  a  bear — riding 
with  a  party  to  the  little  village  of  Riou,  where  lunch  had  been 
prepared. 

It  was  "  deep  noon  "  {basse  tionne)  ^  and  very  hot,  and  the  room 
had  been  nicely  decorated  with  refreshing  and  sweet-smelling  greenery. 
The  Count  sat  down  and  called  for  water.  Scarcely  had  he  dipped 
his  fingers  (which  were  "long  and  fair  ")  in  the  silver  bowl  held  by  two 
squires,  when  his  face  turned  white,  his  feet  trembled,  and  with  one 
cry,  "Lord  God,  have  mercy  on  me,  I  am  dead,"  he  fell  back 
senseless ;  and  though  they  applied  bread,  water,  spices,  and  such 

^  The  only  trace  of  the  ecclesiastic  about  Froissart  is  his  chronology,  expressed 
in  the  terms  prime,  tierce,  vlpres,  and  nonne,  modified  by  the  epithet  haute  or 
iasse. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  67 

■mediaeval  restoratives,  he  was  gone  in  half  an  hour,  gone — shall  we 
•say  ? — to  meet  Pierre  Arnaut,  Gaston,  and  other  known  and  unknown 
victims  of  his  lust  and  cruelty.  His  domains  the  disappointed  tyrant 
had  devised  to  the  French  crown,  but  they  were  sold  by  the  Due 
■de  Berri  to  Matthew,  son  of  Bernard  II.,  Vicomte  de  Carcasonne.^ 

The  well-known  Court  doctrine  as  to  the  damnation  of  a  "  man 
•of  quality  "  applies  with  far  more  point  to  a  feudal  tyrant,  who  was 
also  at  least  a  stark  man  of  action,  than  to  his  enfeebled  descendant 
of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

To  deny  heroism,  nay,  romantic  grandeur,  to  the  former,  would 
be  absurd.  But  life,  under  their  regime,  assumes  somehow  an  un- 
deniably sombre  hue. 

The  mere  recurrence  in  Froissart's  description  of  words  expressive 
of  rage  and  ill-temper  is  such  as  to  strike  the  eye.  Someone  is  for 
ever  becoming  courrouce,  enfelonne,  &c.,  as  a  prelude  to  someone  else 
being  decolle,  decapite,  or,  in  some  other  form,  occis.  Eternal  free- 
booting,  "  chevauchees,"  burning  villages,  outrages,  and  piteous 
•deaths  teem  through  the  volumes.  Indeed,  were  every  description 
of  bloodshed  in  these  pages  printed  in  a  congenial  red,  not  the  most 
brilliantly  illuminated  mediaeval  missal  would  compare  with  their 
flaring  hue.  The  thing  does  not  seem  matter  for  melancholy  to  the 
parties  chiefly  concerned.  With  a  light  heart  do  they  join  the  fre- 
quent fray,  "  fighting  and  cleaving  one  another  so  well  it  was  wonder," 
with  as  sincere  joy  as  any  hero  of  Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling's.^     Even  to 

^  Biographic  Universelle. 

^  See  in  particular  the  detailed  description  of  a  perfect  fight  (almost  the  best 
the  Chevalier  de  Foix,  who  described  it  to  the  chronicler,  had  ever  known), 
Bk.  III.,  ch.  6.  After  three  hours'  hard  work,  when  the  "battle-axe  "  stage  had 
been  reached,  those  of  the  combatants  who  were  out  of  breath  and  had  been 
" roughly  handled "  retired  to  a  ditch  or  stream,  and  took  off  their  "bassinets" 
for  a  moment's  refreshment.  Ernauton  de  Ste.  Colombe  being  very  hard  put  to 
it  and  almost  discomfited,  his  "  varlet,"  a  stark  man  of  his  hands  (the  "varlets" 
as  a  rule  took  no  part  in  the  combat,  being  presumably  unarmed),  came  up  and 

F    2 


68  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

Froissart  as  spectator,  and  much  more  to  the  warriors  themselves,  did 
it  appear  that  there  was  nothing  else  half  so  well  worth  doing.  To 
those  who  were  otherwise  employed,  matters  appeared,  we  know,  in 
a  very  different  light. 

The  Comte  de  Foix  assured  Froissart  while  complimenting  him 
on  his  history,  that  more  remarkable  things  had  occurred  in  "  the  last 
fifty  years  "  than  in  three  hundred  before  them.  Oddly  enough,  this 
is  just  what  most  of  us  think  at  the  present  day.  But  from  his  point 
of  view,  in  which  "  feats  of  arms  "  were  the  chief  events  of  interest, 
he  was  not  altogether  wrong.  It  was  certainly  an  age  of  unbridled 
violence,  of  moral  and  intellectual  stagnation  ;  the  earth  full  of 
triumphant  iniquities ;  righteousness,  it  would  seem,  scarcely  ventur- 
ing to  look  down  from  heaven ;  the  hearts  of  men  (of  the  few  who 
had  leisure  or  peace  to  reflect)  failing  them  for  fear  and  for  looking 
after  those  things  which  were  coming  upon  the  world,  where  so 
faint  and  far  glimmered  the  dawn  of  a  better  day.  The  misery 
of  the  common  people  was  everywhere  terrible,  and  of  all  coun- 
tries perhaps  France  suffered  most.  The  Seven  Years'  War  of 
Burgundy  and  Ghent,  which  ruined  half  the  north  of  Europe  and 
"  was  deplored  by  Turks,  Pagans,  and  Saracens " — "  you  may 
judge,"  confides  the  chronicler,  "  how  it  affected  adjoining 
countries."  To  the  calamities  of  the  English  invasion  were  added 
the  devastations  of  the  Black  Death.  Charles  V.  "  stifled,"  as  a 
French  historian  tells  us,  "  all  spirit  of  liberty."  The  crushing 
burden  of  taxes  was  yearly  increased.  The  experiment  of  a 
permanent  taille  was  coupled  with  the  universal  imposition  of  the 

took  his  axe  from  him,  saying  "  Ernauton,  you  sit  down  and  rest  a  bit ;  you  don't 
know  how  to  fight,"  and  himself  with  a  blow  of  his  master's  weapon  proceeded  to 
knock  his  antagonist  "silly."  "When  the  latter  recovered  himself  the  varlet 
dodged  his  return  blow,  and  threw  him,  threatening  to  take  his  life  "  unless  you 
surrender  to  niy  master. "  "  Who  is  your  master  ?  "  "  Ernauton  de  Ste.  Colombe, 
with  whom  you've  been  fighting  all  this  time."  The  esquire,  as  the  varlet  knelt 
on  him,  presenting  a  dagger  at  his  throat,  agreed  to  this  compromise — "to 
appear  at  Lourdes  in  fifteen  days,  rescue  or  no  rescue." 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  69 

more  odious  gabelk,  which  had  first  become  a  regular  crown  mono- 
poly in  1342.  In  1357  the  Parisian  Bourgeoisie  under  Estienne 
Marcel  had  inaugurated  a  civil  war,  in  their  demand  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  abuses.  And  the  next  year  burst  forth  the  blind,  wild-beast  fury 
of  the  Jacquerie  ;  stamped  out  in  turn  by  the  fierce  reprisals  of  indig- 
nant feudalism,  assisted  by  the  very  Comte  de  Foix  of  whose  heroism 
we  have  heard  so  much.  Yet  this  was  but  an  item  of  calamity  to 
the  chronic  invasions  of  the  English,  whose  kings  and  princes  well 
seem  to  have  spent  their  leisure  time,  seldom  interrupted  by  a  "rain 
of  stones  "  from  heaven,  in  careering  {chevauchant)  up  and  down  the 
harried  and  mangled  provinces  of  what,  by  a  curious  irony,  they 
called  their  own  country. 

In  a  special  "  digression  "  upon  the  character  of  the  Gascons  and 
the  English  (III.  22),  Froissart  tells  us  that  he  once  heard  the 
Sieur  d'Albreth  at  Paris  make  a  singular  observation,  of  which  he 
(the  chronicler)  made  particular  note.  D'Albreth  meeting  a  Breton 
knight,  the  latter  inquired  how  his  country  fared,  and  ho7u  he  managed 
(this  was  after  D'Armagnac,  D'Albreth,  and  others  had  been  won 
over  by  the  kindness  of  King  Charles  V.  "  of  blessed  memory  " — 
Gascons  could  only  be  led  by  tact  and  kindness)  to  keep  French 
{comment  il  se  savoit  contenir  a  estre  Francois).  "  Thank  God," 
replied  D'Albreth,  "  I  am  pretty  well.  But  I  had  more  money,  and  so 
had  my  people,  when  I  made  war  for  the  King  of  England.  Why, 
on  every  foray  we  chanced  on  some  rich  mercer  of  Toulouse,  Con- 
don, Riolle,  or  Bergerath  :  and  scarce  a  day  but  brought  us  some 
good  booty — dont  nous  etions  frisques  et  jolis."  On  which  the  Breton 
gentleman  laughed  and  said,  "  Ah,  that's  the  way  with  you  Gascons 
— always  after  plundering  your  neighbours " — and  the  chronicler 
made  a  mental  note  that  the  Sieur  D'Albreth  probably  repented  that 
he  had  "  turned  French."  Other  of  his  countrymen,  we  learn, 
dissatisfied  with  the  "  kindness  "  shown  them  at  court,  went  back  to 
their  own  country  and  their  allegiance  to  the  English  crown. 

It  is  quite  a  pathetic  reflection  that  the  only  proposed  "  invasion 


70  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

of  England"  (1385)  was,  like  several  of  later  date,  a  miserable  and 
ruinous  failure,  ridiculed  by  Froissart  with  such  scathing  details  of 
English  contempt  as  French  historians,  otherwise  given  to  citation  of 
that  author,  do  not  like  to  reprint.^  And  while  a  return  of  the  black 
death  decimated  the  population,  whole  countrysides  were  often,  by 
the  forays  of  the  nearest  resident  nobility,  swept  of  the  better  class 
of  inhabitants,  whose  ransoms  had  to  be  ground  out  of  a  starving 
peasantry,  only  left  behind  for  this  useful  purpose.  The  condition  of 
the  latter,  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  may  be  studied  from 
the  nude  in  the  bald  and  agonising  "  Plaint  of  the  poor  commoner 
and  labourer,"  preserved  for  us  by  Monstrelet.^ 

It  was  also  an  age  of  peculiar  and  frantic  extravagance  among 
the  upper  classes.  The  chronicler  of  St.  Denis  goes  so  far  as  to 
attribute  the  defeat  of  his  compatriots  at  Crecy  (1346)  to  their 
ridiculous  and  impossible  style  of  dress.  While  the  upper  clothing, 
made  of  the  most  expensive  materials  and  elaborately  embroidered, 
was  so  tight  that  to  take  it  off  "was  like  skinning  a  person,"  and 

^  The  chapter  (III.  36)  is  headed  :  "  Of  the  useless  expenditure  on  the  French 
Navy  and  of  the  good  preparations  of  the  English  to  resist  them."  English  men-at- 
arms  mocked  at  the  proposed  invasion,  and  insolvent  free  companions  comforted 
their  debtors,  saying,  "  The  florins  that  shall  pay  you  are  now  a-coining  in 
France." 

^  After  ch.  cclxiv.  of  the  first  book  "  s'ensuit "  without  any  introduction  "Ja. 
complaincte  du  poure  commun,  et  des  poures  laboureurs  de  France." 
"  Helas,  helas,  helas,  helas, 

Prelats,  princes  et  bons  seigneurs, 
Bourgeois,  marchands,  et  advocats 

Gens  de  mestier  grans  et  mineurs, 
Gens  d'armes,  et  les  trois  Estats 
Qui  vivez  sur  nous  laboureurs 
Confortez  nous  d'aucun  bon  ayde  : 
Vivre  nous  fault,  c'est  le  remede,"    &c. 
And    the  numerous  verses  that    follow   appeal   with   cogent    logic,    but  as   yet 
humbly  enough,  to  each  of  the  above  classes  in  turn.     Chroniques  d' Enguerran 
de  Alotistrelet  co7ttenant  les  guerres  civiles,  &c.,  qui  suyvent  celles  de  Fr  oisfart 
Chez  P.  Mettayer.  2  vols.,  fol.   Paris,  1595. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  71 

required  assistance,  the  sleeves  were  so  long  that  they  almost  swept 
the  ground.  At  the  date  of  Poictiers,  ten  years  later,  French  knights 
and  nobles  went  about  laden  with  gold  and  jewels.  The  Duke  of 
Orleans,  brother  of  Charles  VL,  wore,  embroidered  upon  his  sleeves, 
"  at  full  length,"  the  ballad  "  Ma  dame,  je  suis  plus  joyeux."  The 
notes  of  the  tune  were  represented  by  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight 
pearls  ! 

The  contrast  of  such  barbaric  luxury  with  the  appalling  misery 
of  the  labouring  classes  appeared  even  to  the  latter  to  be  part  of  a 
natural  law.  The  lower  orders,  ill-fed,  neglected  when  not  oppressed, 
fell  in  thousands,  as  a  contemporary  Latin  poet  tells  us,  "  before  the 
lightest  breath  "  of  the  destroying  plague.^  "  But  fierce  Fate  spared 
princes,  nobles,  knights,  judges,  gentlemen ;  of  these  few  die, 
because  the  life  allotted  them  is  one  of  enjoyment."  "  To  the  poor 
life  is  more  cruel  than  deaths  The  pleasures  of  life,  under  such  a 
regime,  seemed  strictly  reserved  for  the  upper  classes. 

Upon  the  phenomena  of  unrestrained  individual  conduct  we 
have  in  this  sketch  specially  dwelt.  France  was  not  the  worst 
governed  of  countries  at  a  period  when  every  Italian  city,  as 
Sismondi  summarises  the  matter,  had  its  tyrant,  every  tyrant  was 
stained  with  the  blood  of  his  kindred,  and  atrocious  crime  seemed 
the  recognised  avenue  to  political  power.  King  John,  by  no 
means  a  bad  specimen  of  a  king,  after  raising  600,000  florins  by  the 
sale  of  his  daughter  Isabel,  aged  eleven,  to  Galeazzo  Visconti,  Duke 
of  Milan — she  was  the  affianced  bride  of  Gian  Maria,  afterwards 
celebrated  as  the  most  ferocious  monster  that  ever  sat  on  a  throne, 
who  hunted  men  in  the  streets  of  his  capital  and  cast  them  alive  into 
ovens 2 — escaped  from  the  burden  of  his  national  and  feudal  re- 

^  Cited  from  a  French  MS.  in  Wright's  edition  of  Piers  Plowman. 

2  See  Corio,  Istoria  di  Milano,  dr»  Giovio,  Vite  de'  Viscond  (8vo,  1632,  p.  162). 
Poggio  Bracciolini  (1380-1459),  a  contemporary,  merely  says,  "ipse  nonnullos 
vivos  lacerandos  canibus  edendosque  objecit."  Historia  Fiorentina,  4to.  1715, 
p.  160  (sub.  anno  1403).     Giovio  gives  the  name  of  the  Huntsman. 


72  A  GASCON  TRAGEDY. 

sponsibilities  to  the  Paradise  of — London,  where,  as  we  commonly 
read,  he  ate  himself  to  death  in  1364.  Charles  VI.,  torn  in  pieces 
by  the  unchecked  fury  of  every  evil  passion — bloodthirsty  and 
other — found  a  different  refuge — assisted,  it  was  thought,  by  the 
machinations  of  sorcerers — in  insanity.  Had  there  been  a  few  more 
monarchs  like  Pedro  the  Cruel,  we  should  never  have  heard  ill  of 
the  Comte  de  Foix,  It  is  but  for  one  trait  that  we  recall  this  tyrant, 
who  in  any  museum  of  the  moral  monstrosities  of  the  age  would 
occupy  a  class  by  himself. 

When  at  the  suggestion  of  "  a  trusty  Jew  "  (whose  fair  daughter 
he  loved)  Pedro  had  despatched  a  "  sergeant "  to  strangle  his  wife 
(sister  of  the  King  of  France),  he  revoked  the  order  two  days  later, 
thinking  that  the  murder  of  a  virtuous  lady  of  such  high  lineage 
might  run  counter  to  some  dimly  discerned  ethical  convention. 
It  was,  unfortunately,  too  late.  The  sergeant,  wearying  of  the 
"  pretty  orisons  "  which  she  had  leave  to  say  first,  had  stifled  the 
queen  with  a  cushion  ;  and  thus  the  whole  force  of  Pedro's  repent- 
ance was  diverted  upon  the  Jew.  The  man  of  money  was  beguiled 
awhile  by  the  redemption  of  his  teeth  at  100,000  crowns  apiece, 
which  (according  to  the  biographer  of  Du  Guesclin)  seriously 
impoverished  him.  But  to  Pedro  it  seemed  but  poor  fun.  The 
wicked  Jew  was  accordingly  tortured  in  true  mediaeval  fashion, 
blinded  with  hot  irons,  &c.,  &c.,  ecartele,  and  finally  hanged.^  A 
catalogue  of  the  awful  crimes  of  the  century  would  fill  many 
volumes.  It  is  yet  more  appalling  to  think  to  how  many  an  in- 
dividual, 

Pinned  to  earth  by  the  weight 

And  persistence  of  hate 

of  the  instans  tyrannus,  death  itself,  as  the  poet  above  quoted  tells 

^  Chronique  de  Berlrand  du  Guesclin  (1314-1380),  ed.  Fr.  Michel  (with 
portrait  and  facsimile  of  Bertrand's  signature),  sm.  8vo.,  Paris,  1830,  where  the 
whole  story  is  related.  This  excellent  and  entertaining  little  history  is  one  of 
those  that  call  themselves  "  Romances"  in  the  linguistic  sense  of  the  word. 


A  GASCON  TRAGEDY.  73 

us,  must  have  been  welcomed  as  a  relief.  Justice,  though  assisted 
by  the  revival  of  torture,  did  but  feel  in  the  dark  after  minor  wrong- 
doers, without  affording  peace  or  security  to  the  average  harmless 
and  industrious  citizen.  True,  there  was  the  cloister.  But  that 
nothing  may  be  wanting  to  complete  the  picture,  even  religious  ties 
and  hopes  were  enfeebled.  The  Papal  Court  of  Avignon  ^  was  a 
very  sink  of  iniquity  ;  and  in  1378  came  the  great  ecclesiastical 
schism,  shaking  men's  religious  convictions,  and  undermining  their 
allegiance  to  the  Church  long  before  Reform  had  attained  shape  or 
power  to  replace  it. 

Medisevalism,  in  fact,  with  all  its  fierce  chiaroscuro  of  blood- 
stained splendour,  is  at  its  apogee,  on  the  very  verge  of  the  precipice 
down  which  are  doomed  to  slide  all  human  institutions  and  types 
-of  society  against  which  human  nature  itself  comes  to  rebel. 

And  through  the  whole  scene,  past  pillaged  house  and  wasted  land, 
in  gay  converse  with  robber  baron,  knight,  and  esquire,  good  queen 
and  wicked  prince,  ever  goes  "  gallivanting "  the  cheery  Froissart, 
Canon  of  Chimay,  and  soi-disatit  Canon  of  Lille  (for  the  reversion 
never  fell  in),  recking  as  little  of  Church  preferment  as  of  the  unpaid 
tavern  bills  in  his  parish  at  home — filled  with  but  one  thought,  the 
splendour  of  his  age  and  the  magnificence  of  the  portrait  of  it  which 
he  would  leave  behind,  and  "well  knowing,"  as  he  avows  with  his 
usual  frankness,  that  "when  I  am  dead  and  rotten  this  grand  and 
lofty  history  shall  be  known  far  and  wide,  and  all  noble  and  worthy 
folk  shall  therein  take  great  pleasure  and  profit." 

^  De  Sade,  Mdmoires  pour  la  Vie  de  Fr.,  Petrarque  (3  vols.  4to,  1764),  i.  60 
&  passim.  Poisoning,  we  learn,  was  much  in  vogue,  but  rivalled  by  magic,  in 
particular  the  use  of  waxen  ^^  imagines"  of  the  person  or  persons  to  be  removed, 
which,  in  order  to  accomplish  this  object,  were  pricked  and  burnt.  See  Christina 
Rossetti's  eerie  ballad  of  "  Sister  Helen." 


From  De  Foix's  Deduicts  de  la  Ckasse,  &'c.     See  p.  53  n. 


III. 

A   SHELF   OF   OLD   STORY-BOOKS, 


^^^^^^^.^.^^^^^^^^^^,;^:>,^^  1 11 


I.— THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

YTHOLOGY,  comparative  or  other  (though  a  positive 
mythology  seems  hardly  conceivable),  has  in  modern 
days  become  a  science  so  vast  and  serious  as  to  be 
quite  terrifying  to  the  casual  reader.  Scarcely  may 
he  peruse  the  fairy  tale  that  charmed  his  childhood 
without  being  reminded  of  its  "  variants  "  current  in  Kamschatka  or 
Timbuctoo  :  and  a  school  of  instructive  and  destructive  criticism 
which  has  descended  upon  old-fashioned  literary  conventions  as  the 
Goths  and  Vandals  descended  upon  the  smiling  plains  of  Italy,  has- 
shaken  to  its  foundations  that  last  stronghold  of  self-satisfaction — a 
faith  in  the  independence  of  our  own  national  and  local  "  ideas," 
and  in  the  originality  of  our  favourite  authors. 

That  the  field  of  such  a  science  should  be  vast  in  both  dimensions 
of  time  and  space  is,  however,  not  to  be  wondered  at.  We  have 
but  to  consider  the  number  of  deliberate  story-tellers  in  any  age, 
to  add  thereto  the  proportion  of  persons  incapable  of  reporting 
exactly  what  they  have  seen  or  heard,  to  multiply  this  sum  total  by 
the  quantity  of  credulous  individuals  for  ever  anxious  to  hear  some 
new  or  apparently  new  thing,  and  to  allow  for  the  increase  of  the 
product  by  a  sort  of  geometrical  progression  during  any  given 
number  of  centuries,  and  the  matter  becomes  statistically  obvious. 
The  realm  of  inquiry,  then,  being  not  only  immense,  but  misty  in 


78  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

outline,  and  roughly  co-extensive  with  the  history  of  mankind,  the 
principal  danger  for  the  inexperienced  tyro  is,  that  he  should  wander 
aside  from  the  faintest  of  tracks  into  that  arid  and  pathless  desert 
where  wild  specialists  chase  one  another  for  ever  through  the  dusty 
void. 

Kept  within  reasonable  and  humane  bounds,  the  pastime  of  myth- 
hunting  has  as  decided  and  satisfying  a  charm  as  any  other  sport. 
Nor  should  the  bibliophile  be  precluded  from  dallying  therewith, 
after  his  fashion.  In  fact,  it  is  with  a  view  to  encourage  him  in  so 
•doing  that  this  chapter  has  been  written. 

The  invaluable  M.  Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  at  the  end  of  his  excellent 

j  edition  of  those  Cent  Nouvelles  Nouvelles,  which  amused  the  youthful 

1  exile  of  Louis  XI.  (a  work  first  printed  by  Antoine  Ve'rard  in   i486) 

appends  a  most  interesting  genealogical  table,  showing  (i)  where  the 

original  form  of  eacn  story,  if  known,  is  to  be  found;  and  (2)  what 

more  recent  authors  have  imitated  or  worked  it  up  into  something 

different,  and  (to  all,  perhaps,  but  the  expert  in  these  studies)  new 

I    and  strange. 

Thus,  if  we  take,  for  example,  Novel  No.  50  contributed  by  Antoine 
de  la  Salle  (the  supposed  author  of  the  Quinze  Joyes  de  Manage), 
the  "  original "  is  to  be  found  in  the  Facetia  of  Poggio  Bracciolini 
.(1380-1459)  who  probably  had  it  from  some  obscure  Latin  soiirce. 
An  imitation,  on  the  other  hand,  appears  both  in  the  "  novels "  of 
Malespini  and  in  Tristram  Shandy.  No.  XIV.  again,  which  ohe 
may  read  in  Marmontel,  and  in  the  Contes  of  La  Fontaine,  is  given 
chapter  and  verse   in   Josephus.^      "  Origin,"  of  course,  can  only 

^  ^  Professor  Morley,  in  his  popular  edition  of  the  Con/essio  Amaniis  of  John 
Gower  (1327-1408)  has  noted  in  a  similar  manner  the  many  and  various  sources  from 
which  that  author  drew  the  famous  collection  of  stories  which  he  has  loosely  and 
pleasantly  arranged  under  the  headings  of  the  "  Seven  Deadly  Sins."  Josephus, 
the  "Thebaid"  of  Statius  (96  A.D.),  Justin's  Epitome  of  Trogus  Pompeius,  the 
Books  of  Daniel  and  of  Kings,  these — besides  other  mediaeval  and  classical  works 
— are  among  his  materials,  of  which  Ovid  (especially  in  the  Metamorphoses)  sup- 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH.  79 

be  a  comparative  expression  for  a  large  proportion  of  such  cases. 
Mediaeval  stories  deal  largely  with  questions  of  conduct  little  affected 
by  changes  of  man's  environment.  The  Cent  Nouvelks  Nouvelles 
are  no  more  new  than  they  are  "proper,"  and  Barbazan's  fascinating 
three  volumes  of  Fabliaux,  though  containing  a  few  incidents  that 
border  upon  decency, — may  all  be  described  as  primitive,  especially 
in  their  morality  ;  and  many  of  them  might,  from  their  general  drift, 
have  been  confided  to  Eve  by  the  old  serpent,  about  the  date  of  the 
Fall  of  Man. 

European  man,  however,  experienced  a  sort  of  second  fall  during 
the  *'  dark  ages,"  and  the  true  mediaeval  story  has  not  the  healthy 
simplicity  of  an  early  classic  myth,  but  presents  the  appearance, 
like  certain  old  books,  of  having  been  not  only  thumbed  and 
handled,  but  repaired  and  perhaps  fraudulently  "  hocussed-up " 
by  successive  hands.  Homer,  on  the  other  hand,  and  ^Eschylus, 
and  the  Eddas,  so  complete  is  the  Scandinavian  rejuvenescence, 
recall  the  virgin  splendours  of  an  unsullied  "  original  impression." 

plies  as  much  as  all  the  remaining  authors  put  together.  Then  the  curious  tale  of 
the  adder,  which  stops  its  ears  (a  feat  still  puzzling  to  many  a  juvenile  reader  of 
the  Psalms)  ivith  its  tail,  is  taken  from  the  "  Etymologia"  of  St.  Isidore,  of 
Seville  (570-635),  author  of  a  Chronicle  of  the  Goths  printed  with  that  of 
Jomandes,  (8vo,  1597). 

And  the  story  of  "Alexander  and  the  Pirate"  (in  Bk.  III.    Wrath;  ch.  5, 
Homicide)  is  assigned  to  Augustine,  De  Civitate  Dei,  and  the  Gesta  Romanorum. 
Prof.  Morley  does  not,  however,  give  its  original  source,  which  may  be  found  in 
a  curious  note  to  Jannet's  edition  of  Villon.     Fran9ois  Villon,  who  recounts  the      /^ 
anecdote  in  a  good  ballad,  assigned  it  to  Valerius  MaxunuSi_ 

"  Valere  pour  vray  nous  I'escrit 

Qui  fut  nomme  le  grand  i  Romme." 

But  it  is  not  in  the  "Dicta  et  Facta  Memorabilia"  of  that  author,  and  it  is  in  ^ 
the  fragment  of  Cicero^s.treatise  Dg  E£publiid^j^TQ%t.x\&(S.  by  Nonius  Marcellus, 
a  grammarian  of  the  sixth  century,  and  will  be  found  on  p.  558  of  the  Plantin 
Edition  (8vo,  1565)  of  his  De  Proprietate  Serinonuin,  under  the  word 
"  Myoparo,"  which  means  a  pirate  boat.  The  story  was  apparently  unknown  to 
Quintus  Curtius  and  to  Arrian. 


8o 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 


r 


(pb 


Few  myths  indeed  can  boast  a  pure  and  authentic  genealogy  :  never- 
theless the  tracking  of  this  curious  and  cross-bred  game,  up  hill  and 
down  dale,  so  to  speak,  across  the  wilds  of  history  soon  becomes 
quite  an  exciting  occupation. 

Soon  also  the  reader  finds  that  to  follow  it  with  comfort  and  satis- 
faction he  must  surround  himself  with  such  a  portentous  pile  of 
volumes  as  would  attract  attention  even  in  the  rotunda  of  the  British 
Museum. 

With  modern  fiction  and  the  leading  dramatists  we  may  presume 
him  to  be  well  supplied.  La  Fontaine,  Don  Quixote,  Boccacio,  Chaucer 
(with  Tyrwhitt's  introduction  to  the  Canterbury  Tales),  the  Cent 
Nouvelles  Nouvelles  already  referred  to,  the  Hepiajneron  of  the  Queen 
of  Navarre  (1575)  and  other  such  standard  works  do  but  represent 
the  "  cover "  in  which  the  sport  is  ordinarily  carried  on.  But  in 
case  of  a  bare  "  idea  "  breaking  back  in  the  direction  of  antiquity,  we 
must  have  ready  all  the  ancient  classics — Homer,  Hesiod,  Hero- 
dotus, Plato,  Aristotle,  the  ^sopian  fables  (including  those  of 
Babrius  and  Avienus),  and  of  course  Virgil,  Ovid,  and  the  Latin 
classics,  through  which  so  much  of  Greek  myth  (notably  in  relation 
to  Purgatory)  filtered  into  the  mind  of  the  early  theologian.  The 
ancient  classics,  we  say,  assuming  that  the  reader's  shelves  are  lined 
with  respectable  Dindorfs  and  Hermanns,  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
texts  bound  in  academic  "russia,"  and  profusely  annotated  with 
the  obiter  dicta  of  some  distinguished  lecturer  now  dead  and  gone. 
But  supposing  that  to  the  original  text  he  should  prefer  a 
comprehensive  "crib,"  there  is  none  better  than  the  splendid 
Bibliotheca  of  Apollodorus_the  Athenianjwho  flourished  in  the 
second  century  a.d.,  late  enough  to  safely  include  the  whole 
of  classical  mythology  in  his  handy  and  very  readable  compendium. 
Heyne  published  an  excellent  edition  of  this  work,  which  contains 
elaborate  genealogies  of  gods,  demigods,  and  heroes  (2  vols, 
sm.  8vo,  1782-3)  and  Thomas  Gale  collected  in  a  rare  (but  un- 
fortunately very  incorrectly  printed)  volume,  the  works  of  Apollo- 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH,  8i 

dorus,  and  four  other  early  mythologians,  including  the  "  Transforma- 
tions" of  Antoninus  Liberalis  (cir.  150  a.d.).  These  Historic 
PoeticcB  Scriptores — 8vo,  London  or  Paris,  1675  (with  copious  / 
index) — are  worth  adding  to  our  list.  Theology,  again,  will  be  repre- 
sented by  the  Bible,  the  Koran,^  Augustine,  the  Sentences  of 
Petrus  Lombardus,2  and  a  few  of  the  more  conversational  fathers, 
of  whom  more  anon.  Next  let  us  pass  to  rarer  works,  firstly 
the  series  known  as  the  Italian  novelists,  noting  the  editions 
which  it  is  desirable  to  secure.  Almost  a  contemporary  of 
Boccacio  is  Sacchetti  (2  vols.  8vo,  1724),  and  in  the  sixteenth  century 
appear  quite  a  galaxy  of  famous  collections,  almost  all  of  consider- 

^  The  Koran  of  Mahomet,  it  may  here  be  observed,  represents,  according 
to  modem  researches  (see  Gibbon,  vol.  VI.,  and  the  profusion  of  variorum 
notes),  a  mere  compilation,  by  the  hysterical  fanatic  whose  name  it  bears,  of  the 
religious  doctrines  of  the  Arabians  of  the  seventh  century,  edited  in  no  par- 
ticular order  by  his  successor,  Abu  Bekr.  The  details  of  Arabian  life  and 
manners,  and  the  fictions,  even  the  grotesque  parodies  and  perversions,  embodied 
in  the  work  give  it  a  great  historical  and  m)rthoIogical  value,  in  spite  of  the  re- 
volting artificiality  of  its  style.  ^^  All  this  stuff"  says  the  judicious  Sale  (who, 
unlike  certain  modem  Orientalists,  is  not  altogether  d^sorienti  by  the  intoxicating 
influence  of  "the  East")  ^^ seems  to  be  a  confused  recollection  of  the  Beast  in 
Revelations''^ — a  remark  which  many  a  Christian  is  moved  to  repeat,  mutatis 
mutandis,  of  other  flowery  passages  in  that  tiresome  imposture. 

*  The  classical  opus  magnum  of  Pietro  Lombardo  (iioa-1164),  hight 
"  Master  of  the  Sentences,"  a  work  said  to  have  produced  more  commentaries 
than  any  other  known  to  history,  is,  as  Hallam  observes,  a  "magazine  of  arms" 
drawn  from  the  works  of  all  the  Fathers,  for  the  use  of  scholastic  disputants,  a 
compilation  of  immense  labour,  somewhat  in  the  form  of  a  legal  text-book.  It 
deals  with  such  abstruse  questions  of  theology  as,  where  the  Creator  abode  before 
creation — whence  Satan  fell  and  how  far — why  Adam  and  Eve  did  not  become 
immortal,  and  why  the  latter  was  made  from  a  rib — whether  the  Israelites  were 
guilty  of  theft  in  spoiling  the  Egyptians,  &c.,  &c. 

*'  On  all  these  points  and  points  obscure  as  these,"  among  which  lurk  the  germs 
of  many  a  later  myth,  we  can  only  refer  the  reader  to  the  copious  indices  appended 
to  the  excellenr  edition  of  the  "  Magistri  Sententiarum  Libri  IV.  8vo.  P. 
Landry,  Lugduni,  1594."  Peter  the  Lombard  was  Bishop  of  Paris,  and  an 
appendix  to  the  work  contains  a  catalogue  of  the  opinions  condemned  during  the 
two  following  centuries  by  the  authorities  "  in  England  and  at  Paris." 

G 


82  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

able  rarity,  the  Cento  Novelle  Antike  (probably  compiled  in  the 
thirteenth  century)  4to,  Bologna,  1525  ;  the  better  known  Novelle  of 
Bandello,  of  which  three  volumes  appeared  at  Lucca  in  1554,  the 
fourth  at  Lyons  in  1573;  and  those  of  Nicolo.  Granucci,  an  extra- 
ordinarily rare  work,  of  which  a  fuller  description  may  interest  some 
readers.  It  is  curiously  entitled — Di  Nicolao  Granucci  di  Lucca 
LEremita,  la  Carcere  e  V  Diporto  (Prison  Diversions) ;  opera  nella 
auale  si  contengono  Novelle,  et  altre  cose  morali ;  con  un  breve  com- 
pendio  de  Fatti  piil  notabili  de'  Turchi  (Turkish  history,  manners, 
and  customs  were  at  this  date  the  subject  of  indefatigable  curi- 
osity),«'«'  a  tutto  Fanno  1566.  Lucca:  Busdraghi.  8vo,  1569.  His 
Piacevol  Notte  e  lieto  Giorno,  opera  morale  (what  the  Renaissance 
novelist  did  for  morals  it  is  difficult  to  estimate !)  in  Venezia :  8vo^ 
1574  ("volume  assez  rare,"  Fournier)  is  better  known.  Granucci 
was  born  in  1530. 

Next  might  follow  the  perhaps  equally  rare  Notti  Piacevoli  of 
Straparola  da  Caravaggio  (1550  and  1553),  the  common  volume 
of  Facetie  edited  by  Domenichi  and  the  rarer  Recreations  of 
Ludovico  Guicciardini,  nephew  of  the  great  historian,  which  ap- 
peared at  Antwerp  in  1585.  Of  the  fifty  stories  of  Giovanni 
"  Fiorentino,"  published  under  the  title  of  II  Fecorone,  Milan,  1558, 
an  edition  described  as  "rarissimo,"  the  wretched  counterfeit 
dated  "  Milano,  1554"  {t-e.  Lucca,  1740)  is  to  be  avoided.  The 
Prima  e  Seconda  Cena  (with  one  story  from  the  third)  of  Anton 
Francesco  Grazzini,  II  Lasca,  may  be  purchased  in  the  octavo  edition, 
London  {i.e.  Paris)  1756.  Last,  but  most  indispensable,  come  the 
Duecento  Novelle,  above  mentioned,  of  Celio  Malespini  (2  parts  in 
I  vol.  4to,  Venice,  1609),  a  precious  collection,  which  fetched  ^Qt,  12s. 
at  the  Pinelli  sale.  If  we  add  two  curious  little  duodecimo  volumes, 
the  Facezie  e  buffonnerie  del  Gonnella  e  del  Barlauhia  e  diversi, 
Florence  16 16,  a  decidedly  out-of-the-way  work,  and  L Arcadia  in 
Brenta,  oiwero  la  vialinconia  sbandita,  Colonia  1667,  thisiwill  do  by 
way  of  Italian   literature   for  the   present.      The  Arabian  Nights^ 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH.  83 

Entertainvients  in  twenty  odd  volumes,  with  copious  index,  will 
please  us  then,  the  Fables  of  Bidpai,  the  Hiiopadesa,  and  one  or  two 
modern  handbooks  to  Oriental  literature. 

The  great  Flemish  satirical  ^^BesiSt-Ey^c"  Reynard  the  Fox  {Wzn 
den  Vos  Reinaerde),^  will  often  be  useful  for  reference,  in  either  of 
the  modern  editions  containing  the  original  text. 

To  turn  to  our  own  country,  there  is  one  work  of  an  absolutely 
unique  interest,  and  from  which,  in  the  words  of  a  modern  editor, 
"  all  our  great  vernacular  poets  have  drawn  the  materials  for  their 
noblest  works  of  fiction,"  to  wit,  the  celebrated  Historia  Britonum, 
composed  or  translated  (from  sources  now  lost  or  unknown)  by 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  before  the  year  1147,  and  containing  the 
complete  and  orthodox  legendary  chronicle  of  Britain  from  ^neas 
to  King  Arthur,  in  what  is  apparently  its  most  original  accessible 
form.  This  work,  of  such  immense  popularity  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  upon  which  in  our  own  days  volumes  have  been  and  will 
continue  to  be  written,  the  reader  will  possess  in  Dr.  Giles's 
useful  edition,  8vo,  1844,  which  also  includes  the  abridgment 
by  Ponticus  Virunnius.^ 

But  there  is  something  almost  sacrilegious  in  the  suggestion  that 
any  "bibliophile"  would  care  to  study  this  subject  in  a  modern 
text  loosely  covered  with  green  cloth.  We  therefore  proceed  to 
give  him  a  selection  of  more  artistically  interesting  "  early  printed  " 
repositories  of  anecdotes  and  fiction,  which,  since  all  the  volumes 

^  With  the  Latin  Isengrimus,  German  versions,  and  kindred  minor  pieces.  Ed. 
Jacob  Grimm.     Berlin,  1834. 

-  Published,  together  with  the  first  edition  of  the  Welsh  Itinerary  (1188  a.d.) 
of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  in  a  small  8vo,  ap.  Henr.  Bollifantum,  Londini,  1585 
(edited  by  David  Powell).  My  copy  has  the  inscription  "J.  H.  Newman,  given 
by  G.  H.  Exmouthiae,  Aug.  1842."  The  history  of  Merlin  is  contained  in  the 
Historia  Britotium,  but  the  volume  of  ' '  Prophecies  "  published  by  Michel  and 
Wright  in  1837,  is  assigned  to  another  author.  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  is 
severely  handled  by  his  contemporary,  William  of  Newburgh  (d.  i2o8) :  "  Gaufri- 
dus  hie  dictus  est,  agnomen  habcns  Arturi,  quod  fabulas  de  Arturo  ex  priscis 
Britonum  sermonibus  sumptas,  et  ex  propria  a?<f/'<7J, . .  .historiae  nomine  palliavit." 

G    2 


84      •  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

are  worth  having,  and  their  typography  will  be  found  to  assist  an 
appreciation  of  the  mediaeval  frame  of  mind,  he  should  at  once — 
to  save  trouble — order  of  the  nearest  bookseller. 
^  Any  such  a  selection,  to  whatever  length  it  be  extended,  must  of 
course  begin  with  that  unique  storehouse  of  pious  fiction,  the 
Golden  Legend,^  or,  properly  speaking,  the  Legenda  Sanctorum^ 
aureum  opus  Jacobi  de  Varagine,  a  work,  which  from  its  nature,  has 
required  constant  re-editing  to  keep  it  up  to  date.  Next  would  come 
the  Gesta  Romanorum,  cum  applicationibus  inoralizatis,  folio  (cir. 
1473)  'i  t^6  Dyalogus  Creaturarum  moralizatus  (and  illustrated  with 
woodcuts),  Goudae,  1480,  a  work  which  reappears  later  under  the 
title  Destrudorium  Vitiorum  ;  the  Speculum  Historiale,  &c.,  &c.,  of 
Vincent  of  Beauvais  (ob.  1264) — in  the  fine  edition  by  Mentelin  of 
Strasburg,  fol.  1473, — a  cumbrous  volume  within  whose  oaken  iron- 
bound  doors,  one  cannot  call  them  covers,  lies  a  perfect  storehouse  of ' 

^  This  wondrous  compilation,  put  together  by  the  original  author  about  1290 
A.  D.  (and  called  after  him  by  an  eighteenth-century  critic,  a  ' '  vorago  Fabularum  "), 
was  originally  also  known  as  the  "Historise  Lombardicse,"  a  title  which  properly 
belongs,  as  Fabricius  points  out,  to  the  "  Life  of  S.  Pelagius."  In  the  small  folio 
edition  printed  by  Nicholas  Petit  (black  letter,  Lugduni,  1535)  which  lies  before 
us,  the  work  is  entitled  "  Legenda — opus  aureum,  quod  Legenda  Sanctorum 
viilgo  nuncupatur,"  &c.,  but  the  colophon  is  "Explicit  legenda  aurea  sive  lom- 
bardica  histori(c)a."  The  life  of  S.  Pelagius  forms  ch.  177.  The  author  takes  it, 
as  he  tells  us,  from  the  History  of  the  Lombards  of  Paul  Warnefrid  (730-796 
A.D.),  where  it  will  duly  be  found,  De  Gestis  Langobardorum,  8vo.  Plantin,  1595 
p.  95,  &c.  Legend  176  contains  the  history  of  Prince  Josaphat  and  the  monk 
Barlaam,  abridged  from  that  of  Joannes  Dainascenus.     (v.  post.) 

The  "additions"  by  subsequent  editors  comprise  St.  Lazarus,  St.  Anselm,  St. 
Louis,  and  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  of  whom  the  first  at  least  might,  one  would 
think,  have  been  mentioned  before.  After  the  Ascension,  we  here  learn  that  the 
persecuting  Jews  put  Lazaras  and  his  sisters  and  a  number  of  other  Christians  into 
a  boat  without  oars.  By  Divine  assistance,  however,  they  succeeded  in  reaching 
Marseilles,  of  which  city  the  Saint  became  the  first  Bishop,  bequeathing  at  his 
death  the  usual  quantity  of  relics. 

The  epithet  "golden "  is,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  frequently  applied, by  authors 
themselves,  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  Renaissance  to  describe  what  in 
modern  times  would  be  called,  as  this  certainly  is,  an  "  indispensable  "  work. 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH.  85 

obscure  and  impossible  mediaeval  lore ;  and  the  Diredorium  vitcB 
humance,  fol.  s.a.  (1480)  which  is  easier  reading  in  the  Latin  transla- 
tion than  in  the  original  Arabic — a  work  of  unique  importance,  of 
which  a  word  shall  be  said  presently.  Scarcely  less  indispensable 
would  be  the  Speculum  Exemploruni  of  Thomas  Cantimpratensis 
(i 200-1270)  foHo,  Strasburg,'i487  ;  and  the  Sermones  de  te7npore  (or 
occasional  discourses)  with  the  Promptuarium  Exemplorum,  com- 
posed by  the  Dominican  Herolt,  about  1418,  and  published  under, 
his  nom  de  plume  of  "Discipulus"  in  Nuremberg,  1475  (^"^  ^'^^' 
where  1481,  1484,  &c.),  and  the  extraordinarily  rare  Novellino  of 
Massuccio  Salernitano  (who  wrote  in  the  fifteenth  century  and  in  the 
Neapolitan  Dialect)  which  first  appeared  in  folio  at  Naples  1476,  but 
was  reprinted  some  half-dozen  times  in  Italy  alone  before  the  close 
of  the  century.  The  first  edition  is  to  be  preferred.  To  conclude, 
the  last  three  works  upon  our  little  list  shall  be  perhaps  the  most 
famous,  or  singular  of  all :  to  wit  the  Historia  Alexandri  magni 
regis  Macedonie  de  preliis — a  moderate-sized  volume — first  printed  at 
Cologne,  1480;  the  Book  of  St.  Barlaam  and  if  Josaphat  King  of 
India  (ist  ed.  cir.  1470)  of  which  an  Italian  fifteenth-century  text  was 
published  by  Bottari,  8vo,  1734;  and  the  wondrous  legend  of  the 
"  Seven  wise  men  of  Rome,"  otherwise  known  as  The  Historia 
Calumnice  Novercalis — folio,  1475,  ^  volume  by  common  account,  of 
great   attraction,  although   the  White  Knights  copy  only  sold  for 

^10  15^. 

Of  the  substance  of  this  last  romance,  an  admirable  specimen  of 
its  kind,  we  may  here  add  a  word,  premising  that  we  draw  it  from 
an  Italian  source,  the  Libro  de'  sette  Savi?-  The  framework  of  the 
stories  is  familiar  enough.  The  phenomenally  clever  youth  instructed 
by  the  seven  sages  is  each  morning  rescued  from  execution  (to 
which  his  father  the  Emperor  sentences  him,  at  the  instance  of  the 
jealous  young   stepmother,   whose    amorous   overtures    he   had   re- 

^  Printed  from  a  fifteenth-century  MS.  in  dialect,  alia  Libreria  Dante,  8vo, 
Florence,  1883. 


86  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

jected)  by  a  judicious  apologue  interposed  by  one  of  the  wise  men, 
and,  to  balance  this  diversion,  the  wicked  stepmother  tells  her  royal 
husband  every  evening  a  fable  embodying  an  exactly  opposite  moral. 
This  ingenious  mechanism,  it  will  be  seen,  provides  a  sort  of  double 
self-acting  Arabian  Nights'  (and  Days')  entertainment,  which  but  that 
the  number  of  wise  men  is  limited,  and  that  none  were  apparently 
heard  twice,  might  have  revolved  round  the  axis  of  one  monotonous 
situation  for  evermore,  or  at  least  as  long  as  the  central  character, 
the  auditor,  was  simple  enough  when  confronted  by  the  vaguest 
precedent  to  go  on  inquiring  "  How — or  why  was  that  ?  "  It  lasts  a 
week,  which  is  quite  enough,  and  then  the  wicked  stepmother  is  burnt, 
on  which  the  reader  feels  a  distinct  sensation  of  relief.  Through 
the  dim  atmosphere  of  this  confused  fable  the  modern  student 
may  discern  as  in  a  fog  the  uncertain  outline  of  the  remorseful 
Llewellyn  and  the  faithful  Gelert,  Joseph's  dream  and  reception  of 
his  brethren  in  Egypt  (?),  and  other  less  familiar  legends.  The  oddest 
thing  in  the  book  is  perhaps  the  decision  by  the  Pharaoh  of  one 
narrative  (assisted  by  the  newly  arrived  Joseph,  whose  wisdom 
enabled  him  of  course  to  understand  bird  language)  of  an  extremely 
doubtful  question  in  the  law  of  divorce  and  maintenance  (!)  raised  by 
three  crows  who  pestered  the  monarch,  for  what  reason  no  one  could 
tell,  until,  upon  the  above  explanation,  he  delivers  a  judgment^ 
which  they  accept  as  final.  The  Italian  is  translated  more  or  less 
from  an  earlier  Latin  version  (particles  of  which  still  adhere  to  the 
"  vulgar  "  text).  Both  this,  and  the  variant  of  the  thirteenth  century 
attributed  to  "  Dam  Jehans  "  of  the  Abbey  of  Hauteselve,  in  which 
the  king  is  known  as  Dolopathos,i  and  Virgil  is  the  principal  wise 
man,  are  translated  or  imitated,  as  authorities  tell  us,  from  thcv. 
Hebrew  work  known  as  the  Parables  of  Sandebar  (first  published  in 

^  See  Brunei  and  Montaiglon's  preface  to  Jannet's  "Elzevirian"  edition  of 
Li  vast  and  tiresome  romans  de  Dolopathos,  where  the  uncertain  relations  of 
the  Hist,  of  the  Seven  Sages,  Dolopathos,  and  \k^&  Fables  of  Sandebar  zx^  discussed. 
Inasmuch  as  the  (so-called)  Fables  of  Bidpai\\a.\e  (in  the  opinion  of  some  editors) 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 


87 


a  collection  *  of  opuscula,  printed  at  Constantinople,  4to,  15 16,  and 
at  Venice  1544,  1568,  and  1605),  and  the  said  Parables  are  again 
derived  from  a  Persian  translation  or  imitation  of — and  here  we 
reach  the  usual  terminus  of  such  research — an  "ancient  Indian 
work." 


obtained  a  wider  circulation  than  almost  any  known  work,  the  following  genea- 
logical sketch  of  the  principal  imitations  and  translations  may  interest  the  reader. 

ORIGINAL    SANSKRIT. 

The  Pantcka-Tanirum,  or  "  Five  Collections,"  ed.  Kosegarten,  Bonn,  1848. 
This,  the  earliest  existing  text,  is  said  to  be  a  "  second  redaction." 


\ 

Pehlvv  (i.e.  Ancient  Persian  version)  by  Barzuyeh, 

physician  of  Nuschirvan  (6th  century  A.  D.),  with 

additions  and  introduction,  and  entitled  Fables  of 

Bidpai.    (See  Gibbon's  Rome,  V.   186,  ed.  1872, 

and  editor's  note.) 

r" ^ 


The  HiTOPADESA.   A  collection  later 
in  date  and  more  corrupted  than 
the  Pehlvy  version. 


-y^ 


Hebrew.  Attributed  to  the 
Rabbi  Joel,  containing 
two  chapters  not  in  the 
"Calilah  and  D."  "Bid- 
pai"  is  here  metamor- 
phosed into  "  Sandebar"  v. 
Sih.  de  Sacy. 
I 

Latin  Version.  By 
John  of  Capua 
(13th  century  a.d.). 
Sub.  tit.  Director- 
ium  Vita  Hum- 
ana. First  printed 
1480,  and  source  of 
innumerable  mod 
em  versions,  e.£^. 


Arabic  Version.  By  Abdallah  Ibn 
Almokaffa,  9th  century  a.d.,  entitled 
Calilah  va  Dimina  (names  of  the  two 
interlocutors).  Ed.  Silv.  de  Sacy,  4to, 
i8i6.  Engl,  by  Knatchbull.  Oxford,  1819. 


r  '    I 

!ST  (mod.)  Persian  Spanish  (?).      Util-    Greek        Version, 

Version.             By  ized  by  Raimond  of        By    Simeon    Seth, 

Abou'l  Maali  Nasr  Beziers  in  his  Latin 
Allah  cir.  1137  a.d. 


version,cir.  1300  a.d. 


DoNi.     Filosofia  mo- 
rale (1552,  4to). 


Sir  E.  North's  Ver- 
sion. Reprinfd, 
ed.  Jacobs,  1880. 
ishakspeare,  &c. 


2ND  Persian  Version.  Re- 
cast in  a  modem  and  popular 
form  by  Hosain  baez  Cas- 
chefi,  cir.  1530  a.d.,  in  his 
A  m>ari  Sohaili,  or  "  Lights 
of  Canopus "  (The  Emir 
"Sohaili"  being  compared 
to  the  favourable  star 
Sohail  =Canopu?). 


3RD     Persian 
ByAbou'l  Fa2l.,i62i  A.D., 
entitled    Eyari  Danisch 
(Touchstone    of     Know- 
ledge). 


cir.  1081  A.D., 
translated  in  Speci- 
men Sapientia  vet. 
Indorum,  Beroli- 
ni,  1697. 
Version. 


r 


Turkish  Version.      A  mere  repro- 
duction of  above,  by  Ali  Tchelebi, 
cir.  1540.    Dedicated  to  Soly man  the 
Great.  Sub.  tit  Homaynun-Nanieh 
=  "  Royal  Book." 
I 
French.    Of  Galland  and  Cardonne  : 
Con:es  Indiennes  de  Bidpai,  6f'c. 
2  vols.  1724. 


French.     Of  David  of  Ispahan,  or 

rather   of  Gilbert    Gaulmin  (1585- 

1665),  Livre  des  Lutniiresdes  Rots. 

I 

English.  Instructive,  &'c. ,  Fables  of 

Pilpay.      London,     16 — ,    7th   ed., 

i775>  >v-  plates. 


1 


88  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

Similarly  the  "  Directory  of  Human  Life  "  above  mentioned  is  a 
Latin  translation  by  one  John  of  Capua,  also  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  the  genealogy  of  which  is  almost  equally  complicated.  The 
Greek  text  is  drawn,  through  the  Fables  of  Bidpai,  from  the  early 
Sanskrit  "  Pantscha  Tantrum^''  or  "  Five  Collections,"  the  source  of 
the  once  ancient  esteemed  collection  of  Fables  known  as  the 
Hitopadesa^  and  indeed  the  well-spring  of  Fabular  Fiction. 

The  reader  who  does  not  keep  an  original  Diredorium,  may  per- 
haps be  able  to  lay  his  hands  upon  the  Spedinen  SapienticB  Indorum 
liber  ethico-politicus pervetustut — an  edition  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
together,  published  at  Berlin,  8vo,  1697. 

It  will  naturally  be  inferred  that  but  few  of  the  black  letter  foHos 
enumerated  above  represent  original  work.  They  are  at  best  Latin 
versions,  for  European  circulation,  of  what  thus  became  the  popular 
light  literature  distinguished  by  its  more  or  less  "  improving "  drift 
and  moral,  from  the  merely  idle  romance  of  chivalry  of  the  fifteenth 
and  even  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  Vita  et  res  gestce  S.  Barlaam  et  Josaphat  Indies.  Regis,  above 
mentioned,  is  a  translation  into  the  vulgar  tongue  probably  made  by 
the  Papal  Librarian  Anastasius  in  the  ninth  century,  of  the  "  mystic  " 
Greek  romance,  as  Brunet  describes  it,  attributed  to  the  ascetic  S. 
John  of  Damascus  (who  died  in  754  a.d.),  and  abridged,  as  has  been 
said,  in  the  Golden  Legend.  This  last-mentioned  divine,  the  author 
of  a  tract  against  the  Iconoclasts  (printed  by  Aldus  in  1554)  was  a 
wealthy  and  noble  Christian  holding  high  office  under  the  Khalifate 
at  an  early  period  in  the  development  of  Arabian  literature. 

*'  East  is  East  and  West  is  West,"  sings  a  modern  bard,  but  the 
rise  of  the  Saracen  power  and  the  Mahometan  invasion  of  Europe 
represent,  as  far  as  concerns  modern  literature,  the  most  distinct  point 
where  "the  twain  do  meet,"  though  how  far  the  distinctive  Oriental  and 
European  imagination  and  taste,  are  ever  capable  of  amalgamating  is 
another  question.  Of  the  immense  popularity  of  the  works  drawn  from 
such  sources  there  can  be  no  possible  doubt.  Their  very  strangeness 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH.  89- 

gave  them  a  vogue.  To  take  for  example  the  Romance  of  Alex- 
ander, to  the  subject  of  which  we  shall  presently  return, — of  the  Latin 
text  four  fifteenth  century  editions  are  well  known.  Cologne,  1480  ; 
"  ct  AIM,  en  Savoie"  1480  ;  Strasburg,  i486  and  1490.  Of  the  French 
translation //^ri?^  editions  were  printed  at  Geneva,  1492, 1494,  and  1498, 
one  at  Paris  (n.d.)  in  4to,  and  another  undated  4to  at  Lyons,  which 
recently  sold  for  nearly  £,20.  A  German  edition  (  " Hienach  volget, 
&•€.")  h\z.c\i  letter  Augsburg  1472,  is  described  as  extremely  rare. 
A  Dutch  version  appeared  in  1483.  A  Spanish  4to,  1530  and  1583. 
Finally  an  English  translation  (of  the  first  edition  of  which  the 
British  Museum  possesses  only  an  imperfect  copy)  was  printed  by 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  apparently  in  1520,  and  by  Copeland  of  Flete 
Street,  somewhere  in  the  fifteen-fifties.  Lastly,  the  romance  appears 
at  Edinburgh  in  "Scottis  meter,"  8vo,  1575  ; — and  that,  we  trust,  will 
satisfy  the  reader.  Of  the  "  Seven  Wise  Men  "  and  the  "  Book  of 
Barlaam  "  the  editions  are  simply  innumerable. 

To  return  from  the  rehearsal  of  these  prosaic  details  to  our  list  of 
"  hundred  best  books,"  for  the  study  of  humane  fiction  in  general. 
Of  French  works  perhaps  too  little  has  been  said,  but  then  so  many 
of  them  are  well  known.  Besides  the  great  satirical  hotch-potch  of 
Rabelais — a  work  which  invites  an  unlimited  amount  of  learned 
editing  (though  why  any  one  should  attempt  to  translate  it  into  modern 
English  passes  our  comprehension) — there  are  two  important  original 
collections  of  floating  fact  and  figment  to  be  mentioned  (and  curious 
facts,  it  must  be  remembered,  often  repeat  themselves  in  successive 
ages),  to  wit,  firstly,  that  great  repository  of  sixteenth  century  scandal, 
the  Apologie  d^Herodote?-  A  volume  or  two  of  the  "  free  sermons," 
of  which  Estienne  gives  such  entertaining  extracts,  may  be  thrown  in ;  ^ 
^  See  note  on  p.  44. 

2  E.g.  Michel  Menol's  Sermones  Quadragesimales  olim  Turonis  dedamati,  8vo. 
black  letter,  Paris,  1525.  These  discourses,  in  a  jargon  of  French  and  Latin,  are 
highly  entertaining,  and  throw  some  light  upon  the  history  of  manners  and  morals. 
Estienne,  by  the  way,  does  not  cite  this  volume  (the  Tours  sermons),  but  those 
preached  at  Paris — "volume  moins  rare" — 8vo,  1530. 


•90  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

and  secondly,  the  still  more  singular  but  less  serious  production  of 
Beroalde  de  Verville,  so  ambitiously  described  as  "Z^  moyen  de 
farventr,  ouvrage  contenant  la  raison  de  tout  ce  qui  a  ete,  et  sera." 
Then  if  we  add  the  Nugce  venales,  a  little  volume  frequently  reprinted 
during  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  Due  de  Roquelaure's 
Roger  Bontemps  (1670),  all  the  modern  story  (or  fairy)  books  red, 
blue,  or  green  that  we  know,  Dunlofs  History  of  Fiction^  JDucange's 
Glossary,  and  a  couple  of  dozen  other  standard  works  of  reference, 
we  might,  in  a  leisurely  fashion,  get  to  work,  at  least  upon  some 
of  the  less  abstruse  mythological  exercises.  One  may,  of  course, 
take  up  the  research  either  in  the  middle  (with  M.  Le  Roux  de 
Lincy)  or  at  one  end,  if  it  can  be  found,  as  is  not  always  the  case. 

We  are  reminded  of  this  when  we  approach  that  most  famous  of 
all  mediaeval  fictions — for  their  supremacy  seems  to  be  quite  un- 
questionable— the  immortal  Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments.  As  is 
the  case  with  so  many  collections,  their  origin  is  provokingly  obscure. 
Perhaps,  indeed,  the  extreme  popularity  of  a  work  which  is  imitated 
and  translated  by  a  score  of  hands,  as  soon  as  it  is  known,  naturally 
augments  the  difficulty  of  tracing  the  original. 

The  earliest  mention  of  what  is  believed  to  be  the  "archetype"  of 
the  Thousand  and  One  Nights  was  discovered  by  the  learned  Von 
Hammer,  in  the  chronicle  of  a  well-known  Arabian  historian  writing 
about  the  year  945.  This  author,  whose  names  are  too  long  to  re- 
hearse, in  a  casual  reference  (of  which  he  can  little  have  foreseen  the 
importance)  to  certain  current  stories  of  the  time,  remarks  that 
educated  people  looked  upon  them  as  mere  inventions,  ^^  like  the 
'  Thousand  Fanciful  Tales.'  "  ^ 

The  earliest  history  of  Arabian  literature  {cir.  987  a.d.)  assigns  the 
said  work,  which  was  regarded  in  the  tenth  century  as  a  "  corrupted 
<:ollection  of  silly  (literally  cold  or  tame)  narratives  "  to  a  Persian 

^  See  the  critical  review  appended  to  Lane's  English  version  of  the  "  Thousand 
and  One  Nights."     Ed.  E.  Stanley  Lane  Poole.     3  vols.  8vo,  1883. 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH.  91 

origin.  An  Arabian  version  existed  as  early  as  the  twelfth  or  thir- 
teenth century;  and  it  seems  to  be  agreed  that  the  work,  as  we 
know  it,  is  an  Arabic  compilation,  made  and  augmented  at  various 
■dates  from  perhaps  the  tenth  or  eleventh  up  to  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  chiefly  in  Egypt,  for  while  the  fame  of  Haroun  El  Raschid,  to 
whose  reign  most  of  the  stories  purport  to  refer,  extended  far  from 
Bagdad,  all  the  MSS.  contain  frequent  and  exact  descriptions  of 
Cairo.  In  a  word,  the  Thousand  and  One  Nights  is,  modern  com- 
mentators tell  us,  "  as  much  an  Arabian  work  as  Virgil's  Aineid  is  a 
Latin." 

Their  original  source,  or  sources,  it  is  in  most  cases  impossible  now 
to  discover  or  disentangle.  The  task  might  literally  in  judicious, 
that  is,  in  sufficiently  learned,  hands 

"  Extend  from  here  to  Mesopotamy  " 

and  embrace,  as  Von  Hammer  remarks,  even  Homer  himself  in  an 
€arly  Syriac  version.  But  then  Homer,  we  know,  in  spite  of  Mr. 
Andrew  Lang,  was  himself  probably  '•'  put  together "  from  earlier 
materials  in  the  eighth  century  B.C.,  and  who  really  wrote  him  no  one 
precisely  knows.  How  far,  then,  must  the  wearied  student  look 
backwards  for  finality?  Scarcely,  it  seems,  shall  he  find  it  in 
the  grand  simplicity  and  primaeval  calm  of  a  Vedic  hymn  ! 

But  to  take  up  the  matter  (of  the  Arabian  Nights)  from  its  other 
•chronological  end,  no  existing  text  is  known  to  be  earlier  than  1548, 
the  date  which  chanced  to  be  inscribed  upon  the  imperfect  MS.  from 
which  Galland  worked,  which  MS.  by  the  way  does  not  contain 
eleven  of  the  most  famous  of  the  tales,  including  "Aladdin  and 
the  Wonderful  Lamp,"  and  "  Ali  Baba  and  the  Forty  Thieves."  It 
was  never  discovered  until  the  other  day,  after  near  two  centuries  of 
doubt,  wonder,  and  suspicion,  w/unce  Galland  had  obtained  these, 
and  all  that  we  now  know,  from  an  entry  (March  25,  1709)  in  the 
translator's  journal  recently  unearthed  (1888)  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale,  is  that  he  derived  the  eleven  tales  from  one  "  Hanna, 


92  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

a  Maronite  of  Aleppo."  But  who  was  Hanna  ?  and  where  did  he 
get  them  ?  No  one  seems  to  know.  Such  are  some  of  the  broken 
threads  which  make  up  the  vast  tangle  of  comparative  mythology. 

The  delightful  French  version  of  Galland  (first  pubHshed  1704- 
171 7)  many  of  us  know  and  love  better  than  later  and  completer 
editions.  Indeed  the  dimensions  of  the  great  Burton  translation  ^  are 
almost  terrifying;  they  recall  too  realistically  the  original  concep- 
tion of  an  endless  serial  which  never  stopped  even  with  a  Christ- 
mas number.  "  Half-hours "  of  light  fiction  pass  very  well,  but 
who  can  face  "  Ten  Hundred  Sleepless  Nights  with  the  Best 
Authors"?  2 

Incomplete  is  a  mild  expression  for  the  first  instalment  of  the 
Tales,  which  embraced,  as  the  translator  himself  tells  us,  only  one 
thirty-sixth  part  of  the  stupendous  whole.  Yet  Galland,  though  a 
deliberately  loose  translator,  in  the  opinion  of  many  good  critics, 
really  improved  on  his  original  by  the  omission  of  many  of  those 
ornamental  absurdities  which  jar  upon  a  European  ear.  Arabian 
fiction  has  been  said  to  be  characterised  by  a  certain  "  coarse  broad 
humour,  and  a  terrible  and  gigantic  subHmity,"  which  inevitably 
trenches  now  and   then  on   the   ridiculous.^     Moreover  a   certain 

^  A  new  and  but  slightly  abridged  "Library"  edition  is  now  announced  in 
twelve  volumes  at  the  price  of  ;^6  6^.,  of  which  critics  seems  to  agree  that  it  will 
probably  be  quite  "  complete  "  enough  for  the  average  reader  of  moderate  means, 
and  rather  too  much  so  for  the  subscribers  to  the  original  extra-complete  and 
curiously  annotated  Burtonian  text,  of  which  it  might  well  have  taken  the  place. 

2  "  Frappee  de  la  clarte  du  jour  qui  commencait  a  paraitre  Scherazade  ne  dit 
pas  davantage."     Mille  Ssf  une  nuits,  passim. 

^  See  a  most  interesting  work  (cited  repeatedly  by  Lane),  Remarks  on  the 
Arabian  Nights,  the  origitt  of  Sindbad's  Voyages,  drc,  by  Richard  Hole,  LL.B. 
8vo.  Cadell,  1797.  "An  excellent  little  book"  (Lowndes),  which  figured  in  the 
Fonthill  and  other  catalogues.  "  Ouvrage  fort  bien  fait,"  adds  Brunet,  "  et  qu'on 
ne  retrouve  plus  facilement."  {M^me  dans  la  botte  a  six  sous  oil  nous  venons  de 
le  diterrer. )  In  this  volume  the  relation  of  Sindbad's  adventures  to  the  actual  ex- 
periences (and  erroneous  inferences)  recorded  by  European  and  Oriental  explorers 
of  India,  China,  and  Japan,  and  to  the  professed  fictions  of  earlier  classic  writers 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH.  93 

artificiality  of  form,  and  in  particular  a  passion  for  reasoning  by 
way  of  question  and  answer — as  the  reader  will  presently  see — serve 
to  identify  the  genus. 

But  it  is  rash  to  dogmatise  from  such  sensations,  in  regard  to  any 
particular  episode  or  story.  To  tear  off  the  original  environment  of 
the  hero,  and  to  clothe  him  in  bran  new  vestments  of  another  place 
and  time  is,  to  an  able  mythologist,  the  work  of  a  moment.  Thus, 
to  return  to  Antoine  Galland,  who,  besides  the  Milk  et  Une  Nuit{s), 
the  Contes  Indiennes  de  Bidpai  et  de  Lokman  (2  vols.  8vo,  1724),  and 
other  works,  also  published  a  celebrated  collection  of  Anecdotes  and 
Maxims,^  one  would  never  have  guessed  that  perhaps  the  most 
familiar  of  all   British  schoolboy  anecdotes — that,   to  wit,   of  the 

is  discussed  with  considerable  learning.  Sindbad  is  of  course  frequently  in  accord 
with  Marco  Polo  and  other  travellers.  Lucian,  in  the  second  century  a.d.  had 
already  produced  a  rival  to  the  Roc  "  as  big  as  twenty  vultures  "  ( Vera  Historia, 
Bk.  ii.).  The  "  Old  Man  of  the  Sea"  (a  mistaken  address)  is  really  a  well-ascer- 
tained Ourang-outan  ;  and  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  who  travelled  late  in  the  twelfth 
century,  either  borrowed  from  or  furnished  to  Sindbad  his  method  of  escaping,  by 
the  assistance  of  an  Eagle,  from  the  Valley  of  Diamonds,  (v.  Benj.  Tttdelen^s 
Itinerarum.     8vo,  Antwerp,  1575,  p.  98.) 

^  Orientaliana  ou  les  Bans  Mots  des  Orientaux,  &fc.,  selected  from  various 
original  sources,  including  unpublished  MSS. ,  with  copious  notes  and  index, 
8vo,  Paris,  1 701.  The  story  of  the  inquisitive  man  is  on  p.  35.  The  work  first 
appeared  under  another  title,  ^^  Paroles  Remarquables"  &c.,  in  1694,  and  an 
English  translation  in  1695.  The  volume  contains  a  great  deal  which  is  historically 
interesting  in  a  very  readable  form,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  stories  are 
not  as  a  rule  what  would  now  be  called  amusing.  A  son  and  heir  is  asked  if  he 
wishes  his  father  would  die.  "No,"  he  answers,  "I  wish  some  one  would  kill 
him,  that  I  might  have  the  blood-money  as  well  as  the  inheritance."  Quel  bon  mot! 
A  Persian  poet  reads  his  second-rate  verses  to  a  person  of  taste.  "They  were 
composed  on  the  spot,"  he  urges.  "  I  should  think  so,"  answers  the  critic,  "they 
smell  of  it."  (Nothing  is  said  of  the  insanitary  nature  of  their  subject.)  Quelle 
plaisanterie  I  The  stories  mostly  break  off — they  can  hardly  be  said  to  conclude — 
with  the  rudest  and  inanest  of  platitudes.  Some  are  mildly  amusing,  such  as  the 
answer  made  to  the  proud  author  of  a  poem  in  which  the  letter  Aleph  had  never 
been  used  :  "  Why  not  omit  all  the  others  ?"  The  majority  reflect  a  strange  and 
to  most  temperaments  somewhat  uncongenial  frame  of  mind. 


94  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

inquisitive  Irishman  who  looks  over  the  shoulder  of  a  gentleman 
writing  a  letter,  and  by  an  indignant  denial  of  the  reflection  therein 
made  upon  his  impertinent  curiosity,  inadvertently  convicts  himself 
— was  to  be  found  in  such  a  work,  from  which,  however,  we  have 
doubtless  borrowed  it. 

With  regard  to  fiction  in  general,  in  spite  of  the  maxim  that 
there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,  competition  seems  to  run  dis- 
tinctly in  the  direction  of  antiquity,  and  "  latest  authorities "  are 
commonly  employed  in  knocking  century  after  century  off  the 
age  which  certain  classic  works  have  successfully  claimed  in  less 
critical  days. 

Associating,  as  one  inevitably  does,  a  certain  rude  vigour  with  a 
quite  "  primitive  "  antiquity,  probably  many  readers  are  surprised  to 
find  that  the  mythological  Eddas  as  we  know  them,  for  example  the 
ballads  first  popularised  by  Gray,^  are  only  to  be  assigned  to  about 
the  same  date  as  the  "  silly  and  corrupted  narratives  "  of  the  Ara- 
bian Nights.  The  question  is,  of  course,  one  of  independent  and 
very  diverse  racial  developments.  At  the  date  of  the  genesis  of 
the  Eddas,  the  Northmen,  as  we  have  good  reason  to  know,  carried 
all  before  them,  and  bullied  the  feeble  and  struggling  infancy  of  the 
France  and  Europe  of  the  dark  ages.     But  (up  to  and  of  course 

^  Now  easily  obtainable  in  Dr.  Finnur  Jonsson's  edition  of  the  Gedichte  Mytho- 
logischen  InhalCs  (text,  critical  notes,  and  glossary).  8vo,  Halle,  1 888.  See  p.  69. 
The  oldest  MS.  of  the  Eddas  dates  from  about  1250.  Snorro  Sturleson's  work 
was  published  by  Rask  in  1818. 

In  Gray's  time  the  Eddas  seem  to  have  been  accessible  only  in  the  chronicle  of 
Torfaeus,  and  in  the  valuable  and  somewhat  rare  milanges  of  T.  Bartholinus — 
"  Antiquitates  Danicse — de  causis  contempts  a  Danis  adhtic  gentilibus  mortis^'' 
with  engravings,  4to,  Hafinise,  1689,  from  which  Gray's  translation  (or  rather 
imitation  of  the  Latin  translation  there  given)  was  made.  The  editor  of  the 
Poems  (Scatcherds'  ed.,  with  portrait  and  front,  by  Burney,  8vo,  1779)  wonders 
why  Gray  omitted  the  first  five  stanzas  of  Odin^s  Eide.  Probably  because  Bar- 
tholinus does  not  give  them.  The  "Antiquities"  include  a  large  selection  from 
unpublished  texts,  and  should  be  added  to  the  .list  of  useful  books  above- 
mentioned. 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH.  95 

excluding  Mr.  Henrik  Ibsen)  what  have  they  since  produced  that 
rings  in  our  ears  Hke  the  last  lines  of  Odin's  ride  ?  The  secondary 
and  artificial  period  sets  in  with  the  prose  Edda  attributed  to  Snorro 
Sturleson  (1178-1218).  '■'■  D^bord  le  chant"  as  M.  Xavier  Marmier 
puts  the  matter,  '^^ et puis  P analyse."'^ 

The  Arabian  Nights  in  which,  as  has  often  been  remarked,  there 
is  hardly  any  mention  of  war,  is  the  expression  of  an  already  corrupt 
and,  indeed,  as  we  now  know,  a  profligately  immoral  civilisation. 
Not  a  trace  of  Saracen  vigour  is  to  be  perceived  in  the  luxurious  and 
enervated  "  mercantile  "  society  from  which  its  characters_ai:£.drawn. 
The  fiction,  for  a  work  of  what  Europeans  call  the  dark  ages,  pre- 
sents to  us  quite  a  surprisingly  modern  and  conventional  artificiality. 
But  the  utter  dearth  of  moral  and  spiritual  energy  makes  this  society 
more  trying,  in  a  sense,  more  puzzling  to  the  modern,  or  at  least  to 
the  Teutonic  mind  than  the  violence  of  Odin  and  Thor,  or  the 
mysticism  of  an  ^schylean  chorus.  These  things  seem  to  us  to> 
correspond  to  something  either  in  the  forces  of  nature,  or  in  our  own 
intelligence  or  aspirations.  But  the  Oriental  imagination  (which  for 
this  if  for  no  other  reason  we  can  hardly  expect  to  understand)  ^  is 

1  Lettres  sur  Vlslande,  1837,  containing  ^n  excellent  abridgment  of  Scandi- 
navian mythology. 

"'  But  if  in  the  best  known  Oriental  literature  there  are  aphorisms  and  witticisms 
and  rhetorical  ornaments  of  which  we  do  not  appreciate  the  point  or  force,  that  is 
but  a  natural  and  trifling  uncongeniality.  For  genuine  mediteval  obscurity,  nay, 
for  blank  head-splitting  unintelligibility,  we  need  look  no  further  than  the  nearest 
Celtic  chef  d'' aiivre  of  the  dark  ages.  Take  for  example  Dalian  Forgaill's  cele- 
brated elegy  in  praise  of  St.  Colomb  (Amra  Choluim  Chilli,  &=c. ,  edited  from  the 
MS.,  with  literal  translation  and  notes,  by  J.  O'B.  Crowe,  Dublin,  1871)  composed 
late  in  the  sixth  century. 

"He  cried,"  sings  the  poet  (c.  21),  "a  melodious  lion  in  a  snow's  ne~M  meet- 
ing";  and  then  follows  the  explanation  (infinitely  more  trying  in  each  case  than 
the  text) :  "  Like  the  roar  of  a  melodious  lion  in  snow  in  a  new  meeting  is  the 
praise  of  the  strong  one,  that  is,  Colum  Cille  ;  for  when  the  lion  gives  his  roar  out 
of  him,  all  the  animals  come  at  it  until  he  gives  a  coil  of  his  tail  around  them,  so 
that  there  die  in  that  place  a  flock  of  rats  and  of  foxes  {!).     The  hunter  comes  to 


96  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

distinguished,  as  a  French  critic  observes,  "  by  an  abuse  of  the  im- 
agination and  intellect "  and  a  contempt  of  "  nature." 

To  trace  the  kinship  between  the  North  and  the  East,  we  must 
in  fact  go  back  to  the  literature  of  early  India.  Take,  for  example, 
the  immensely  striking  idea  of  the  "  Churning  of  the  Ocean,  in  order 
to  recover  Amrif,  the  lost  drink  of  Immortality  "  which  occurs  in  that 
colossal  epic  the  Mahabharata}  and  is  probably  seven  or  eight 
centuries  older  than  the  Eddas,  which  it  at  once  recalls. 

him  then  until  he  gives  nets  about  him  afterwards,  so  that  he  dies.  Thus  Colum 
Cille."  We  trust  the  reader  follows  the  analogy.  "  Dignity  of  mind,"  we  read 
elsewhere,  "  came  for  the  cleric."  Such  language,  which  is  no  obscure  jest  of  the 
translator's,  sounds  like  something  out  of  the  Star  newspaper  (1894),  and  brings 
a  stifling  crowd  of  burlesque  associations  about  the  reader's  brain.  "  Thou  hast 
leave,"  says  the  cleric,  ^^tobe  on  a  craneingon  which  thou  art."  "Thou  hast  leave," 
says  the  cleric,  "to  be  on  a  craneing"  (sic) — so  that  it  is  then  she  "was  turned 
into  a  crane  "  !  And  Englishmen  wonder  that  they  cannot  understand  the  people 
whose  ancestors,  to  the  number  of  many  hundreds  (see  Forespeech),  wrote  such 
poetry  as  this,  until — and  here  a  ray  of  comprehension  dawns  upon  us — they 
were  ' '  banished  for  their  burdensomeness. "  The  Life  of  St.  Patrick  in  the  Book 
of  Armagh  (Irish  Antiq.  Researches,  Dublin,  1827)  is  far  more  readable  fiction. 

^  A  lucid  analysis  of  the  two  great  epics,  the  Mahabharata  (which  contains 
100,000  stanzas)  and  the  Kamayana,  will  be  found  in  ch.  I  of  Marshman's  History 
of  India.  These  stupendous  works,  composed  a  century  or  so  before  Christy  and 
referring  to  events — the  careers  respectively  of  Krishnu  and  Ramu — of  about 
1 ,000  years  earlier,  may  shortly  be  said  to  embody  all  the  earliest  traditions  of 
ladia  (thickly  overlaid,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  Ramayun,  with  supernatural 
mjrthology  and  Brahministic  doctrine),  and  to  be  the  sole  sources  of  Indian  History 
before  the  Mahometan  invasion.  The  earliest  literature  of  India  is  now  ac- 
cessible in  Prof.  Max  Miiller's  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  Oxford,  1879,  &c., 
translated  by  various  Oriental  scholars.  The  Hymns  of  the  Rig- Veda,  ' '  the  most 
.  ancient  literary  monument  of  our  Aryan  race,"  of  which  the  existing  text  dates 
from  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  have  just  been  published  in  English  with  a  popular 
commentary  (Benares,  Lazarus,  1894.  See  Athemeum,  No.  3502)  by  Mr.  Ralph 
Griffith,  the  translator  of  the  Ramayun,  whose  "  Specimens  of  Old  Indian 
Poetry"  (produced  so  long  ago  as  1852)  contain  selections  from  the  Vedic  Hymns, 
the  larger  poems,  and  the  Law  of  Manu,  in  a  convenient  form.  The  Questions  of 
King  Milinda,  a  work  of  great  importance,  and  a  cardinal  text  on  Buddhism,  is 
translated,  in  the  series  above-mentioned,  by  T.  W.  Rhys  Davids,  Oxford,  1890. 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH.  97 

In  fact  the  golden  age  of  Sanskrit  literature,  so  much  of  which  has 
of  late  years  been  brought  within  reach  of  all  English  readers,  appears 
to  coincide  with  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and  what  is 
described  as  the  only  artistic  prose  work  of  ancient  India — the 
Questions  of  King  Milinda  {i.e.  it  is  supposed,  "  Menander,  one 
of  the  kings  who  carried  on  in  Bactria,  the  Greek  dominion 
of  Alexander  the  Great ")  was  composed  about  that  date,  and 
conveys  the  didactic  ethics  of  its  age  in  the  form  of  a  historical 
romance. 

Apart,  however,  from  rude  and  vast  primitive  fancies  bearing  the 
stamp  of  "  ancientry,"  scores  and  hundreds  of  simple  stories  of 
human  and  animal  life,  more  or  less  ethically  applied  in  the 
example,  as  the  Spanish  call  it,  or  fable,  are,  beyond  doubt,  of 
great  antiquity,  though  it  is  not  always  traceable,  and  the  num- 
ber of  these  imported  at  one  date  or  another  from  the  East  is 
enormous. 

Four  ^^ passer  au  deluge"  to  omit  that  is  the  common  stock 
of  simple  (and  largely  agricultural)  ideas  which  the  "  Indo-Euro- 
pean group"  inherit  from  their  parent  race  an  early  Oriental 
idea  may  arrive  at  the  modern  English  reader  either  by  the  main 
line,  so  to  speak,  through  Greek,  Latin,  and  Italian,  or  French ;  or 
indirectly,  as  will  be  seen  presently,  by  a  more  or  less  tortuous  Aryan 
or  Semitic  route.  Again  an  incident  or  fancy  traceable  to  an  Arabian 
source  (whether  original  or  borrowed  from  India)  may  have  been 
indirectly  imported  through  Byzantine  Greek  or  late  Latin  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  or  directly  during  either  the  Moorish  invasion  of 
Europe,  or  the  European  crusades  into  Palestine. 

From  the  catalogue  above  suggested — the  outlines  of  which  the 
intelligent  reader  can  fill  in  for  himself— it  will  be  seen  that  an 
adequate  Library  of  Fiction,  properly  indexed,  should  enable  him  to 
stop  or  tap  any  given  figment,  by  w^hatever  route  or  channel  it 
approaches  or  departs,  and  whether  it  be  a  complex  chapter  in  some 
elaborate   "cycle,"   or   the   simplest    human   incident,    of    obvious 

H 


98  THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH. 

"  moral,"  and  world-wide  application.  Thus  to  take  the  common- 
place story  (cited  by  Richard  Hole  from  Beloe's  Miscellany)  of  The 
Man  (it  should  be  "  two  men  "),  the  Lion,  afid  the  Serpent,  which  is 
apparently  foreign,  but  affords  no  exact  evidence  of  date,  one  might 
easily  speculate  as  to  when  it  was  imported.  As  it  happens,  how- 
ever, we  know  that  it  came  in  in  the  twelfth  century,  since  the 
whole  story  is  printed  at  length  in  Matthew  Paris,  That  author — 
who,  by  the  way,  has  a  good  deal  to  say  about  the  "  Fables  "  of  the 
heretic  Mahomet — tells  us  {sub  anno  1195,  on  page  241  of  the  folia 
edition  of  1570,  cited  above)  that  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  who  it  is 
presumed  brought  the  legend  home  from  the  Crusades,  used  to 
repeat  it  to  his  courtiers  to  enforce  the  moral  of  gratitude  to 
benefactors. 

The  tale  is  not  a  striking  one,  but  reads  comically  in  the  Latin 
of  St.  Alban's.      The  King's  real  object  was  to  persuade  more  of 
his  courtiers,  and  especially  those  upon  whom  he  had  conferred 
honours,  to  take  service  in  the  Crusade  demanded  by  Pope  Celes- 
tine  IIL     With  this  aim  he  himself  "  turned  preacher,"  and  taking 
up  his  "  parable  "  told  the  company  of  one  Vitalis,  a  wealthy  Vene- 
tian, who  one  day  wandering  in  a  wood  fell  into  a  pit  artfully  prepared 
for  lions  and  serpents,  and  indeed  already  occupied  by  two  of  those 
intelligent  animals,  who,  however,  as  Vitalis  "  fortified  himself  with 
the  sign  of  the  Cross,"  allow  him  unmolested  to  "  howl  and  yell " 
for  a  day  and  a  night.     Then  arrives  on  the  scene  a  poor  charcoal- 
burner,  who,  on  a  promise  of  half  the  rich  man's  fortune  (500  talents), 
rescues  him  and  also  the  lion,  which  plays  about  and  wags  its  tail,^ 
and  the  snake,  which  "  squirms  "  and  "  hisses  softly  "  with  delight. 
The  lion  subsequently  brings  the  poor  man  a  kid,  and  the  serpent 
finds  him  a  precious  gem  ;  but  the  wealthy  Vitalis,  on  his  safe  return 
to  Venice,  forgetful  of  solemn  oaths  and  promises,  declines  to  pay. 
The  charcoal-burner  insists  on  having  the  law  of  him,  produces  the 
gem,  and  conducts  witnesses  to  a  personal  interview  with  the  lion 
and  the  snake,  whose  exhibition  of  delight,  though  clearly  only  evi- 


THE  HUNTING  OF  THE  MYTH 


99 


dence  against  the  beasts  themselves,  satisfies  the  judges  of  the  truth 
of  the  whole  story  ! 

Thus  King  Richard,  by  way  of  reflection  upon  the  ungrateful.  It 
may  be  presumed  that  some  of  the  "  circumsedentes,"  who  knew 
nothing  of  comparative  mythology,  must  at  once  have  handed  in  their 
names  as  volunteers.  The  parable  was  already  at  least  300  years 
old,  being  drawn  from  that  inexhaustible  Oriental  source,  the 
Calilah  va  Dwinah,  alias  the  Fables  of  Bidpai,  or  Sandebar} 

Under  the  title  of  The  Story  of  Bardus  the  Fagot  Gatherer^  it  was 
popularised  by  Gower  (Book  V.,  Avarice^  chap.  6,  Ingratitude),  and 
duly  re-appears  in  the  Gesta  Romanorum. 
^  See  note  to  p.  86. 


Woodcut  from  the  Dyalogtis  creatnraiiun,  printed  by  Gerard  Leeu.  Goudae.  1480.  {Brit. 
Atus.  C.  38,  h.  3. )  The  typography  and  illustrations  of  this  famous  volume  are  of  peculiar 
excellence. 

H    2 


rdc 


II.— AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

HRONOLOGICALLY  and  naturally  enough  the 
mention  of  Richard  I.  suggests  the  subject  of  a 
certain  chef  (Toeuvre  which  we  had  intended  shortly 
to  review,  after  concluding  the  above  prefatory  re- 
marks, and  which  seems  never  to  have  been  printed 
in  complete  form  until  the  present  century,  though  it  may  very 
possibly  have  been  read  by  Cceur  de  Lion,  or  have  served  to  distract 
the  mind  of  the  suffering  King  John. 

The  Discij^JiiiaJ^ia'icaUs  of  Petj:ii£L  AJfbnaus,  a  Spanish  Jew,  bap- 
tized in  the  year  1106,  at  the  age  of  forty-four,  is  one  of  the  most 
famous  collections  of  its  kind.  Under  another  name  (and  especially 
under  that  of  the  French  version,  Le  Castoiement  (fun  Plre.  d,  son 
Fils,  published  by  Barbazan  in  1760)  this  pious  composition  is  well 
known  to  every  student  of  early  modern  literature.  In  fact  the  notes 
and  cross  references  appended  by  the  learned  F.  W.  V.  Schmidt  to 
his  edition  of  the  Latin  text  (8vo,  Berlin,  1827)  seem  to  embrace 
the  whole  literature  of  mediaeval  thought,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fiction 
of  some  twenty  centuries.  From  Aristophanes  to  Hans  Sachs,  from 
Eginhard  to  Muratori,  all  the  past  is  laid  under  contribution  by  an 
editor,  who,  not  content  with  printed  books,  quotes  long  passages 
from  priceless  and  out  of  the  way  manuscripts,  and  Greek  transla- 
tions of  obscurer  Ethiopian  originals.^ 

^  The  celebrated  and  highly  apocryphal  Book  of  Enoch,  which  has  been  since 
published  (3rd  ed.  revised  and  enlarged,   Oxford,   1838  ;   translated  from   the 


AN  IMPROVING  WORK.  loi 

To  the  unprejudiced  reader  the  expression  Disciplina  Ckricalis  is 
at  first  sight  an  unattractive  title,  no  more  suggestive  of  a  mine  of 
anecdote  than  is  A  Lover's  Confession.  Looked  into  more  closely 
we  see  that  it  only  means  the  education,  religious  as  well  as  intellec- 
tual, of  a  gentleman  and  a  scholar,  at  a  period  when  this  was  not  such 
a  serious  business  as  it  is  now-a-days. 

But  it  was  no  simple  matter  even  then.  '♦  There  are,"  we  read 
(chap.  vi.  6),  "seven  arts,  seven  probities  {probitates),  and  seven 
'industries.^  The  seven  arts  are  dialectic,  arithmetic,  geometry, 
physics,  music,  astronomy;  about  the  seventh  philosophers  differ; 
some  say  that  it  is  *  science,'  some  '  grammar,'  which  one  would 
have  thought,  as  literature  is  not  mentioned  at  all,  would  have  come 
before  the  other  six. 

"  The  seven  prowesses  are  riding,  swimming,  shooting  with  the  bow, 
boxing,  fowling,  playing  chess  (!),  and  writing  verses. 

"  Th^ industries'  (i.e.  virtues,  and  no  such  bad  name  for  them,)  are 
not  to  be  greedy,  drunken,  luxurious,  violent,  mendacious,  avaricious." 

The  mastery  of  chess  may  be  a  prowess,  but  it  seems  strange  that 
"  versification  "  should  go  in  the  same  class  with  boxing. 

In  that  precious  monument  of  typography,  the  Smmna  quce  vocatur 
Catholicon  of  Joannes  de  Janua  (alias  Giovanni  Balbi,  ob.  1298),  the 
*'  seven  arts  "  of  mediaeval  education  are  more  methodically  and, 
sensibly  defined.  i.  The  Triviujn  (a  triple  road  to  eloquence) 
grammar,  dialectic,  and  rhetoric.  11.  The  Quadrivium  (the  fourfold 
road  to  wisdom),  arithmetic,  music,  geometry,  and  astronomy.  Those 
who  took  up  No.  I  were  called  "  Triviales,"  those  who  preferred  the 
second  "  Quadriviales."  "  Trivialis  "  is,  of  course,  quite  independent 
in  meaning,  though  not  in  origin,  of  "trivial,"  nor  can  we  posi- 
tively describe  the  "  trivials  "  as  a  sort  of  "  poll  "-men,  though  they 

Ethiopian  MS.  in  the  Bodleian  Library  by  Aichbishop  Lawrence)  is  a  unique; 
source  of  history  upon  the  period  immediately  preceding  the  Deluge,  an  account 
of  which  by  Noah  (who,  according  to  Tertullian,  at  least  revised  the  work) 
occupies  chapters  64  to  67. 


If't 


'J 


I02  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

obviously  would  fall  into  an  inferior  class.  Gregory  of  Tours,  in  the 
sixth  century,  alludes  to  these  seven  branches  of  learning,  in  the 
celebrated  Apology  for  his  own  defective  style  appended  to  the 
Historia  Francorum,  and  incidentally  explains  that  Rhetoric  meant  a 
mere  knowledge  of  metres,  and  Matthew  Paris,  seven  hundred  years 
later,  speaks  of  an  educated  man  as  one  "  in  trivio  et  gaadrivio  ex- 
(ellentisstmus" 

To  return  to  the  Disciplitia  Ckricalis.  We  are  clearly  informed 
how  and  why  Petrus  Alfonsus  wrote  the  work.  The  Almighty  had 
endowed  him  "  with  manifold  wisdom,"  which  he  did  not  think  it 
right  "  to  hide  under  a  bushel."  But  considering  the  frailty  of  human 
nature,  he  had  endeavoured  to  convey  his  instructions  in  an  enter- 
taining and  not  too  tedious  form.  "  Accordingly,"  he  tells  us,  "  I 
have  compiled  this  little  book  partly  from  the  proverbs  of  philoso- 
phers and  their  counsels  {castigationes),  partly  from  Arabian  proverbs 
and  counsels,  and  fables  and  verses,  partly  from  similitudes  of  beasts 
and  birds.  In  fact  there  would  seem  to  be  very  little  really  original 
matter  in  the  book.  The  greater  part  is  either  purely  Oriental,  or 
what  has  filtered  through  some  Eastern  channel  from  an  earlier 
European  source. 

All  that  is  strangest  in  incident  in  early  European  fiction,  we 
are  disposed  to  assign,  by  virtue  of  that  uncongeniality  which  has 
been  discussed  already,  to  an  Oriental  origin.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  "  mediaeval  mind  "  is  itself  a  strange  thing  which  requires  some 
understanding ;  a  childish  intelligence,  it  often  seems,  darkened  by 
suffering,  and  deranged  by  moral  and  intellectual  disease,  yet  with 
intervals  of  singular  and  sometimes  hysterical  mirth — little  more 
intelligible  to  us  than  its  terribly  materialist  attempts  to  pigeon-hole 
all  human  intelligence,  and  its  verbose  confusions  of  names,  numbers, 
and  things. 

Thus  the  stories  of  the  pious  Petrus  Alfonsus  interest  us  chiefly 
as  part  of  the  history  of  civilisation,  and  are  mostly,  as  we  say,  "  in 
an  atmosphere."     In  the  first  place,  and  in  spite  of  the  author's 


AN  IMPROVING  WORK.  103 

assurances,  their  subject-matter  hardly  strikes  one  as  moral.  Like 
most  other  mediaeval  fictions,  they  treat  very  largely  of  the  infidelity 
of  the  fair  sex,  a  subject  popular  with  Boccacio,  and  hardly  yet 
exhausted  ;  and  in  the  second  place,  while  giving  unquestionable 
advice  they  darken  counsel  strangely.  Familiar  characters  appear, 
but  pursue  their  ends  in  an  oddly  blase  or  topsy-turvy  manner.  The 
most  celebrated  personages  of  antiquity  come  upon  the  scene,  yet 
somehow  they  are  not  quite  as  we  remember  them. 

Virgil,  the  poet  and  the  country  gentleman,  is  an  individual  of 
whom  we  naturally  feel  that  we  know  something.     Yet  his  character 
passed  very  early  into  the  realm  of  the  supernatural,  being  almost 
worshipped,  if  only  as  a  genius,  soon  after  his  death.     Perhaps  he 
would  never  have  sung  of  magic,  and  charms  potent 
coelo  deducere  lunam  {^Bucolics,  Eel.  8), 
and  would  even  have  denied  ^neas  the  pleasure  of  a  visit  to  the 
infernal  regions,  could  he  have  foreseen  how  such  diversions  would 
be  misunderstood  by  subsequent  generations.     At  any  rate  Virgilius, 
schoolmaster,  necromancer,  and  mesmerist — Virgilius  the  wooer  of 
the  "Sodan's   daughter  of  Babylone,"  the  builder  of  Naples  on  a 
foundation  of  eggs,  the  inventor  of  innumerable  and  highly  dan- 
gerous automatic   toys,   including  the  wondrous  "  coper  man  and 
horse  "  (the  historic  if  not  etymological  equivalent  of  the  modern 
"copper"),  which  kept   the   streets   of  Rome   from    "theues   and 
nyght-ronners  "—this  Virgil  is  perhaps  the  most  refreshingly  novel  / 
and  entertaining  figure  in  the  whole  world  of  fiction,  especially  in  the  j 
English  text  "  emprynted  in  the  cytie  of  Antwarpe,"  with  woodcuts,  I 
by  John  Doesborcke.^ 

But   the   conduct   of  Aristotle   is   more   seriously   trying  to  the 
unsuspicious  modern  student. 

He   leaves  the   venerable    Stagirite   gravely   discoursing   of   the 
■"excess"  and  "defect"  of  dignity  (" hightonedness,"  as  Americans 

^  One  copy  kncnun,  from  which  Utterson  reproduced  sixty  in  1 812,  all  presumably 
•"  well  held"  at  the  present  date. 


104  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

perhaps  translate  it)  and  such  virtues,  or  asserting,  with  ever  so  little 

of  a  grin,  that  it  was  ridiculous  to  talk  about  courage  "  at  sea."^ 

•Returning  late  in   the  Christian  era  he  discovers  the  philosopher 

I — to   his    horror  ! — saddled  and  bridled,    capering   skittishly   about 

/an  Oriental  garden  with  a  young  lady  in  scanty  clothing,  the  mistress 

'  of  Alexander,   upon  his  back !     To  the  cultivated  mind  this  is  a 

severe  shock.     The  learned  Pope  Pius  11. ,  better  known  as  ^neas 

Sylvius,  took  it  seriously  to  heart.     "  What  are  we  to  say  of  philo- 

I  sophers,"  he  asks,  "  when  they  do  such  things  ?  "     What,  indeed  ? 

But  we  soon  find  out  that  it  is  not  Aristotle's  fault  at  all,  since 

Aristotle,  and,  for  that  matter,  Alexander  the  Great  and  Socrates,  and 

Virgil,  and  Joseph  of  Arimathaea,  and  numerous   other  celebrated 

individuals  ^  are  only,  as  Mr.  Lewis  Carroll  might  put  it,  "  persons 

in  the  dream  "  of  the  mediaeval  mythologer. 

As  the  editor  of  the  Disciplina  explains  in  a  lucid  and  interesting 
note,  there  are  in  fact — in  myth  rather — if  the  startled  reader  can 
believe  it,  no  less  than  three^^.d^totles. 

For  firstly,  there  is  the  "  here  altogether  to  one  side  laid " 
Aristotle  oi  History,  who  died  in  322  B.C.,  and  upon  whose  works — 
which  are  nearer  akin  to  the  modern  mind  than  any  mediaeval 
lucubrations — our  university  professors  continue  to  lecture. 

The  second  is  the  corrupted  and  perverted  Aristotle  celebrated  in 
the  literature  of  his  time,  as  the  fountain  head  of  "  Scholastic '' 
Philosophy  and  Theology,  in  the  form  in  which  he  appears  from  the 
time  of  Boethius  (say  500  a.d.),  but  who  only  takes  a  definite 
position   in   the   Christian   literature   of  Western    Europe  through 

1  The  "  Lyfe  of  Virgilius  "  (a  fiction  of  Italian  origin)  will  be  found  in  the 
admirable  selection  of  "Early  Prose  Romances,"  edited  by  Prof.  Morley  {Rout- 
ledgers  Carisbrooke  Library,  No.  IV.),  who  points  out  its  relation  to  the  "Seven 
Sages."  Of  "Joseph  of  Arimathie  or  the  Romance  of  the  Holy  Grail,"  an 
"absolutely  unknown  poetical  version,"  and  others  printed  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  were  published  by  Skeat  (Early  Eng.  Text  Society),  1871.  On  the  vast 
and  obscure  subject  of  the  Saint-greal,  see  a  very  learned  work  recently  published 
by  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt. 


AN  IMPROVING  WORK.  105 

Arabian  translations,  and  corruptions  of  his  works.^  Thus  the  con- 
ventional attitude  of  the  mediaeval  mind  towards  the  great  philosopher 
is  strongly  affected  both  by  ignorance  and  prejudice — as  may  be  in- 
ferred, indeed  from  the  allusion  in  Hans  Rosenpliit's  Play  of  the 
Seven  Maste?'s,  or  wise  men,  composed  about  1450 ; 

"  Hie  vindt  man  loyca  mit  irer  list " 
(Logic,  that  is,  and  its  cunning) 

"  Die  lert  was  falsch  und  unrecht  ist 
Ir  meister  heisst  Aristotiles." 
Poor  man  ! 

His  third  impersonation — and  the  one  with  which  we  are  here 
concerned — is  the  purely jnythical  Aristotle  evolved  by  the  Oriental, 
imagination  out  of  Jewish  and  Arabian  traditions,  and  made  the 
suBject^^^^^one  cannot  say  the  hero — of  various  strange  tales. 

Of  these,  the  most  famous  is  that  embodied  in  the  French 
Fabliau  (see  the  collections  of  Barbazan  ^  and  Le  Grand  d'Aussy) 
and  entitled  in  the  former  Le  Lay  (TAristote,  in  which  the  philoso- 
pher, having  warned  the  youthful  Alexander  against  the  excessive  and 
degrading  servitude  of  love,  is  himself  subsequently  victimised  by  the 
fair  charmer  and  exposed  to  the  ridicule  of  the  conqueror  of  the 
world  in  the  painfully  absurd  position  above  mentioned. 

^  Cf.  Hegel,  Geschichte  der  Philosophic,  ed.  1844,  iii.  119.  The  historical 
interest  of  the  Arabian  acquaintance  with  and  predilection  for  the  works  of 
Aristotle  lies  in  the  fact  that  for  many  centuries  "all  that  the  Western  world  knew 
of  him  was  derived  through  this  channel  " — that  is,  through  Arabian  versions,  se- 
lections, and  commentaries,  some  of  which  were  but  vaguely  related  to  the  original 
— re-translated  into  Latin  {xvith  sometimes  a  Hebrew  version  between  the  t'cvo)  by 
Spanish  Arabs  and  Jews  in  Africa,  Spain,  or  Portugal.  During  the  early  Middle 
Ages  the  study  of  Greek  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  almost  unknown  in  Christian 
Europe.  Very  few  writers  of  the  time  have  a  first-hand  acquaintance  even  with 
Homer.  As  their  philosophy  was  for  long  drawn  from  Arabian  sources,  so  their 
Greek  mythology  was  almost  exclusively  derived  from  Ovid  and  his  low  Latin 
imitators. 

-  Fabliaux  ^  Contes  des  poi'tes  Francois  des  12*,  13*,  o^  14"  Siecles  (original 
texts  and  glossary),  3  vols.,  sm.  8vo  (or  rather  iSmo  large  paper,  well  printed 
in  good-sized  type).     Paris,  1756.     Sec  vol.  i.,  155. 


io6  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

It  is  obvious  that  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  this  story  which,  though 
once  so  popular,  would  hardly  amuse  the  present  generation,  is 
Oriental  fancy. 

A  Bishop  of  Ptolemais  who  spent  the  closing  years  of  his  life  at 
Rome,  Jacobus  de  Vitriaco,  imported  the  fiction  into  Europe  early  in 
the  thirteenth  century  in  his  famous  Historia  Orientalis  et  Occiden- 
talis.  It  enforces  a  moral  concerning  women  in  Herolt's  Promptu- 
ariujji  Exemplorum,  mentioned  above.  A  French  author  works  it 
up,  as  we  have  seen,  into  a  lengthy  Fabliau,  and  Hans  Sachs  into  a 
comedy  (of  the  year  1554) — Persons,  the  Queen  rides  the  philosopher 
Aristotle,  and  has  five  acts. 

From  Aristotle  we  naturally  turn  to  his  distinguished  pupil. 

That  a  strange  and  rich  web  of  fiction  should  weave  itself  about 
the  name  of  Alexander  the  Great  was  natural  enough.  The  real 
magnitude,  and  the  distance  from  Europe,  of  so  many  of  his  exploits 
(which  recalls  Mr.  Hume's  argument  concerning  miracles)  rendered 
such  a  result  inevitable,  human  nature  being  what  it  is.  "  Alexander 
died,"  as  Hamlet  tells  us,  "  Alexander  was  buried  "  about  the  year 
323  B.C.  But  the  first  real  history  of  his  astonishing  expeditions — and 
a  most  excellent  and  readable  one  it  is — which  has  come  down  to  us 
is  that  of  Arrian,  the  Nicomedian,  who  was  Governor  of  Cappadocia 
in  134  A.D. 

Arrian  is  a  most  conscientious  writer ;  and  while  he  pins  his  faith 
to  the  two  contemporary  historians  (Ptolemy  and  Aristobulus)  where 
they  agree,  he  is  constrained  to  observe  upon  the  remarkable  differ- 
ences in  the  various  accounts  given  of  the  life  of  his  hero. 

"  These  things  I  mention,"  he  tells  us  at  the  close  of  a  chapter 
{vii.  27)  containing  various  traditions  as  to  Alexander's  death, 
"rather  that  I  may  not  appear  to  be  ignorant  of  what  is  commonly  re- 
ported, than  because  I  think  them  worthy  of  credit."  But  we  may 
be  sure  that  many  of  his  readers,  and  many  writers  of  bad  Greek  or 
*'  infamous  Latin  "  failed  to  note  the  distinction. 

What  could  be  expected  then,  when  Quintus  Curtius,  a  rhetorician 


AN  IMrROVING  WORK  107 

with  a  decided  taste  for  the  romantic,  and  imperfectly  acquainted 
with  Greek,  takes  up  the  tale,  at  an  uncertain  date  in  the  first  or 
second  century?  He  refers  indeed  to  "authorities"  (which  include 
already  at  least  one  romancer,  Clitarchus),  but,  having  a  lofty  con- 
tempt for  chronology,  repeats  their  diverse  accounts  of  identical 
events  "as  if  they  referred  to  different  things,"  a  practice  leading  to 
confusion. 

The  modern  German  editor  can  discover  "only  three  passages 
where  he  attempts  to  distinguish  truth  from  falsehood."  The  dread- 
ful result  of  all  this  being  that  Quintus  Curtius,  although  a  trifle 
flowery,  produced,  at  this  shockingly  early  date,  what  has  been 
described  as  a  "  readable  historical  novel,"  which  had  undoubtedly 
an  immense,  nay,  a  fatal  vogue.  Any  one  can  understand  this  who 
will  take  the  trouble  to  turn  to  his  capital  chapters  on  the  conspiracy 
of  Hermolaus,  and  the  death  of  Callisthenes  the  friend  and  biographer  ^ 
of  the  monarch.  A  modern  demagogue  addressing  a  "  capitalist " 
could  not  speak  with  greater  frankness  and  prolixity  than  the  un- 
fortunate page  expounding  the  attitude  of  an  aggrieved  military 
employe  towards  the  despotic  conqueror  of  the  world.  (Q.C.  viii.  6-9). 

The  author  indeed  says  elsewhere  when  relating  wonders  which 
Strabo,  ^lian,  Plutarch,  and  Pliny  merely  state  as  facts,  "  I  trans- 
cribe more  than  I  believe  "  {De  rebics  gestis  Alexatidri,  ix.  i) ;  which 
shows  that,  in  spite  of  what  has  been  said,  some  feeling  for  history 
still  hung  about  him.     Pausanias  felt  the  same  difficulty,  and  the 

'  Callisthenes,  the  nephew  and  disciple  of  Aristotle,  was  put  to  death  by 
Alexander  in  Bactria,  328  (see  Arrian,  iv.  13),  for  his  supposed  connection  with 
the  conspiracy  to  murder  Alexander  in  bed,  which  was  only  defeated  by  that 
mon.irch's  fancy  for  sitting  up  all  night 

"drinking,  drinking,  drinking." 
Callisthenes  perished,  but  his  ghost  walked  many  centuries  later,  and  the  pseudo- 
Callisthenes  furnished  materials  for  dmost  all  the  later  histories  of  Alexander, 
except,  it  would  seem,  the  Irish  version,  which,  like  the  Irish  Odyssey,  appears  to 
bean  "original  compilation."  See  notes  to  Kuno  Meyer's  edition  (and  literal 
translations)  of  these  works.     (D.  Nutt,  1886.) 


io8  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

same  obligation  to  posterity.  In  the  true  Middle  Ages,  the  question 
how  much  a  writer  or  reader  could  believe  soon  became  immaterial. 
The  first  mediaeval  writer  on  the  subject  would  seem  to  be  Gaultier 
de  Chastillon  who,  about  1180  composed  a  passable  epic  poem,  the 
Alexa7idreis  (8vo,  1541)  in  ten  books,  beginning 

Gesta  ducis  Macedum  totum  digesta  per  orbem 
Quam  large  dispersit  opes,  quo  milite  Porum 
Vicerit  et  Darium,  &c.,  &c. 
Musa,  refer. 

in  which  one  only  observes  a  slight  deficiency  of  "  ear,"  and  of 
grammar.  But  Gaultier  whose  work  was  in  the  thirteenth  century 
preferred  to  the  ancient  classics,  descends  in  a  later  passage  to  a 
miserable  "play  po'  words,"  writing 

Forte  Fortunse  pereo,  si  pareo  ;  mentem 
Non  sinit  insontem  fortuna  potentior  esse. 

Nor  does  he  scruple  at  an  atrocious  pun. 

Haec  seaira  manet,  in  me  parat  ilia  securim. 

Since  then  various  poets  have  descanted  in  vulgar  tongues  upon 
the  theme.  Before  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  Alexander  of 
Paris  became  joint  author  of  another  famous  epic  (in  lines  of  -twelve 
feet,  '■'■  he7ice  called  Alexatidrines,'"  but  after  which  Alexander  it  seems 
doubtful),  recounting  the  "  gestes  "  of  the  Macedonian  monarch,  lightly 
flavoured  with  early  French  history.  The  most  celebrated  of  all 
these  works  is  the  immense  "Poema  de  Alexandro "  in  2,514 
four  line  rhyming  stanzas  ("Alexandrines"  of  fourteen  feet)  which 
occupies  the  third  volume  of  Sanchez's  celebrated  collection.^ 
It  was  once  attributed  to  Gonzalez  de  Berceo  (i  190-1266)  but 
internal  evidence  assigns  it  to  Juan  Lorenzo  Segura  de  Astorga, 
who  probably  was  writing  about  1200  a.d.,  and  who  refers  with  the 

^  Coleccion  de  Poesias  Castellanas  anteriores  al  siglo  XV"  (5  vols,  sm.  410, 
Madrid,  1779-90),  an  indispensable  work.  Vol.  i.  contains  the  "Poema  del 
Cid." 


AN  IMPROVING  WORK.  109 

profoundest  respect  to  the  Alexandreis  of.  the  above-mentioned 
Gaultier. 

Without  tracing  further,  then,  the  growth  of  this  particular  branch 
of  Oriental-European  mythology,  whose  ramifications  extend  over 
two  hemispheres,^  the  reader  wttl-see  that^the  authors  of  romances,  of 
chivalry,  and  Fabliaux,  in  the  next  two  or  three  centuries,  could  suffer 
from  no  dearth  of  material,  of  a  kind,  concerning  Alexander  the 
Great. 

But  to  return  to  the  last  mention  of  him  in  the  DiscipHna,  which 
also  occupies  the  last  chapter  of  the  Historia  Alexandri  magni 
de  prceliis.  His  tomb  was  of  gold,  and  a  large  number  of  philo- 
sophers assembled  and  heaped  laborious  epigrams  upon  it.  Thus 
one  said — 

"  Alexander  made  a  treasure  of  gold, 
Now  things  are  changed,  gold  makes  a  treasure  of  him." 

(The  "  Lyke  "  of  Alexander  supplies  by  the  way  another  subject 
to  the  voluminous  Hans  Sachs).     Another  said — 

"  Yesterday  the  world  did  not  suffice  him. 
To-day  four  ells  of  cloth  are  enough." 

Another — 

"  Yesterday  he  could  free  many  from  Death, 
To-day  he  could  not  himself  escape  Death's  darts. " 

And  another  (the  eighth)  said — 

"  Yesterday  he  had  friends  and  enemies, 
To-day  all  are  alike  to  him." 

All  which  we  read  word  for  word  in  the  last  chapter  of  our  Historia 
Alexandri  magni  regis  macedonie  de  preliis  (Argentinse,  i486),  in 
which  work  moreover  it  is  asserted — a  detail  of  more  intense  actuality 
than  any  here  mentioned — that  Alexander,  when  first  feeling  that 
he  had  been  poisoned,  "  got  a  feather  "  {qucBsivit  una  pennd)  and 
tickled  his  throat,  but  unfortunately  to  no  purpose. 

"  But  it  would  be  tiresome  {memorice  loftgutn)  to  rehearse  all  that 


no  AX  IMPROVING  WORK. 

the  thirty-two  philosophers  said  of  the  most  mighty  king,"  especially 
as  they  are  rehearsed  in  so  many  other  places. 

For  this  relief  the  youth,  whose  powers  of  memory  are  being  con- 
sidered, should  have  been  thankful !  The  most  ancient  literature  was 
more  refreshing  than  such  originality. 

Chapter  xxiv.  is  a  complicated  variant  of  the  .^sop's  fable  of  the 
countrywoman  and  the  Wolf.  In  this  version  a  ploughman  says  to 
his  oxen,  when  they  would  not  go  straight,  "Wolves  eat  you  up!" 
Now  when  Brer  Wolf  heard  this  he  lay  low  {quod  lupus  audiens 
acquievit) ;  but  at  evening,  after  the  man  had  done  ploughing,  he 
went  up  to  him  and  said,  "The  oxen,  please,  that  you  promised  me." 
The  ploughman  answers  that  he  had  said  so,  but  not  sworn  it.  "  But 
you  gave  them  me,"  said  Brer  Wolf,  "and  I  ought  to  have  them." 
So  they  went  to  law  about  it. 

But  on  the  way  they  meet  the  Fox,  who,  having  heard  the  dispute, 
says,  he  can  decide  it  for  them  as  well  as  any  judge.  "  But  I  must 
first  speak  a  word  to  each  of  you  in  private."  And  first  he  spoke  to  the 
ploughman,  "  Give  me  a  hen,  and  my  wife  another,  and  you  shall 
have  your  oxen.".  "Agreed,"  says  the  ploughman.  Then  he  turns 
to  the  wolf,  "  My  good  friend,  for  your  singular  deserts  my  eloquence 
is  bound  to  make  every  effort.  I  have  so  persuaded  this  cotmtry- 
man  that  if  you  will  let  his  oxen  go  scot  free  {quietos)  he  will  give 
you  a  cheese  (what  natural  history  are  not  fabulists  responsible  for  ! ) 
as  big  as  a  shield." 

Then  Brer  Fox  takes  the  deluded  wolf  off  by  a  long  and  circuitous 
route  to  a  well,  which  they  reach  by  moonlight,  shows  him  the  reflec- 
tion of  the  half-moon  in  the  well,  and  says,  "  There  is  your  cheese,  go 
down  and  eat  it."  The  wolfs  cautious  request  that  he.  Brer  Fox, 
should  go  down  first,  is  the  cue  for  the  celebrated  well  and  bucket 
trick,  to  which,  moreover,  the  whole  weight  of  the  introductory 
moral  (belonging  by  rights  to  "The  Dog  and  His  Shadow")  is 
appended ;  the  rest  of  the  story  remaining  as  pointless  as  the 
descriptive  part  of  a  Virgilian  simile. 


AN  LM PROVING  WORK.  in 

In  yEsop,  La  Fontaine,  and  all  orthodox  fabulists,  it  is  of  course 
the  goat  upon  which  the  fox  exercises  his  ingenuity,  in  order  to 
escape  from  an  unpleasant  predicament,  and  the  original  fable  is  said 
to  have  given  rise  to  a  popular  phrase  (see  Plato,  Thecetetus,  165,  B) 
descriptive  of  an  embarrassing  situation.  Pulci  {Morgante  maggiore^ 
ix.  75)  appropriates  the  version  here  given. ^  The  confusion  and 
fatuity  of  many  of  these  hybrid  fables,  the  characteristic,  it  would 
seem,  of  a  curiously  indolent  sort  of  ignorance,  is  something  almost 
past  belief.  The  writer  seems  to  think  that  the  orthodox  postscript 
direction  "Apply  to  sinner  "  {applica  ad  peccatorevi)  could  give  point 
to  the  most  inconsequent  ancedote. 

For  sheer  inanity  one  might  be  disposed  to  give  the  palm  to  the 
following. 

A  coy  young  lady  will  not  her  heart  incline  to  an  amorous  youth. 
The  latter  consults  an  elderly  confidante  (the  one  good  and  wise 
woman  of  whom  the  philosopher  can  remember  hearing).  This 
astute  person  has  a  little  dog  which  she  starves  for  three  days  and 
then  feeds  with  bread  and  mustard,  which  makes  it  weep. 

Followed  by  the  weeping  hound  she  pays  a  call  on  the  coy  one, 
who  is  struck  by  the  melancholy  air  of  the  animal.  "  Why  does  the 
little  dog  weep?"  she  inquires.  "O  don't  ask,"  replies  the  wise 
woman,  "  it  is  too  painful  a  matter." 

Finally,  however,  the  necessary  fiction  is  imparted  to  the  maiden. 
*'  That  little  dog,"  says  the  confidante,  "  used  to  be  my  daughter,  who 

^  In  ancient  fable,  as  in  natural  history,  both  ancient  and  modern,  the  fox  main- 
tains the  reputation  of  superior  astuteness.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  at  what 
date,  and  among  what  Indian  or  African  tribe,  the  rabbit  developed  the  cleverness 
so  constantly  emphasised  in  the  stories  collected  by  Mr.  Joel  Chandler  Harris. 
But  the  "  Rabbit  and  the  Lion"  in  the  Instructive,  6^«r.,  Fables  of  Pilpay  (ed. 
1775,  p.  14,  see  note  above)  is  identical  with  that  given  in  Uncle  Remus  Mid  his 
Friends;  and  the  "Elephant  and  the  Rabbits"  shows  another  example  of 
cunicular  wisdom.  Does  the  clever  rabbit  first  appear  in  the  Persian  Lights  oj 
Canopus  (1530),  from  which  this  English  text  is  derived,  through  a  bad  French 
translation  ? 


112  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

■was  passionately  loved  by  a  certain  youth,  but  she  was  coy  and  re- 
fused to  marry  him.  So  she  is  now  always  weeping  from  remorse." 
The  young  lady  is  taken  in,  without  a  struggle,  expresses  her  terror 
of  becoming  a  little  dog  and  weeping  mustardy  tears  for  ever  more, 
and,  the  tolerably  obvious  moral  having  been  clearly  driven  home, 
agrees  to  marry  the  rejected  lover.  This  story  is  expanded  and  im- 
proved in  the  MS.  text  quoted  by  Schmidt  from  the  Greek  Seven 
Wise  Masters,  itself  a  translation  from  the  Syrian. 

Side  by  side  with  such  half-fairy  tale  fiction  we  find  the  serious 
"modern  instance."  The  following  simple  story  occurs  also  in  the 
Gesta  Romafiorum. 

A  rich  man  wished  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  a  poor  young  man,  his 
neighbour,  and  to  obtain  possession  of  his  house  which  he  would 
not  sell. 

So  he  begged  to  be  allowed  to  store  in  the  courtyard  ten  barrels 
of  oil,  offering  to  pay  for  their  safe  custody.  The  youth  reluctantly 
agreed.  But  the  crafty  rich  man  had  filled  five  of  the  barrels  only 
half  full ;  and  when  the  time  came  for  restoring  them,  complained 
that  the  young  man  had  robbed  him  of  the  oil,  and  brought  him 
before  a  magistrate. 

The  youth,  in  great  straits,  repairs  to  a  certain  philosopher  in  the 
city  known  as  "  the  Helper  of  the  Needy,"  who  takes  up  his  case, 
and  being  universally  respected  is  invited  to  take  a  seat,  we  must  not 
say  on  the  bench,  but  near  the  judge.  Then,  the  plaintiff  having 
been  heard,  the  philosopher  makes  a  suggestion  that  they  should 
ascertain  the  exact  amount  of  fine  oil,  and  of  sediment  respectively, 
in  the  full  barrels.  If  the  same  amount  were  found  in  those  only 
half  full,  then  clearly  the  oil  had  been  stolen.  If  not,  the  young  man 
was  innocent,  as  is  accordingly  demonstrated.  The  '■'■  Auxiliuin 
Egentium  "  subsequently  decides  another  abstruse  case  in  a  fashion 
faintly  recalling  that  of  Solomon. 

But  few  sages  in  the  story  seem  to  have  made  themselves  so  prac- 
tically useful.    In  fact  the  quantity  of  pretentious  wisdom  distributed 


AN  IMPROVING  WORK.  113 

about  the  book  in  small  parcels  of  miscellaneous  advice  is  appalling.  Of 
the  utterancesof  the  immense  staff  of  "  philosophers  "  employed  upon 
the  task  not  more  than  a  tenth  part  is  really  worth  listening  to. 

One  can  well  believe  the  anecdote  recorded  by  Galland  {Orien- 
taliana,  ed.  1701,  p.  134)  of  the  thousand  camel-loads  of  lite- 
rature— presumably  of  this  class — which  having  been  abridged  and 
abridged  by  learned  editors  at  the  abject  request  of  a  monarch  who, 
presumably,  had  to  pay  for  the  camels,  was  at  last  found  to  be  con- 
densable into  four  maxims  concerning  Obedience,  Despotism,  Health, 
and  Womankind  ! 

"  Abide  not  in  the  city  of  a  king  whose  expense  is  greater  than  his 
income,"  indicates  an  understanding  of  early  finance;  and  there  is 
originality  and  point  in  the  reflection  upon  injudicious  effusiveness, 
"  A  counsel  unspoken  you  hold  imprisoned,  once  uttered  //  imprisons 
you''' 

The  melodious  bird  which  a  man  captures  in  his  garden,  advises 
him  in  a  lighter  vein.  It  declines  to  sing.  "  If  you  won't  sing  I'll 
eat  you."  "  How  will  you  eat  me  ?  "  says  the  bird,  with  curious 
nonchalance.  "  Boiled  I  shall  be  too  small,  and  roasted  I  shall  be 
smaller  still,  or  not  nice  to  eat.  But  let  me  go,  and  I  shall  bring  you 
great  advantage." 

Cross-examined  the  fowl  promises,  in  awful  Latin,  to  show  to  the 
learner  "  tres  sapienticz  ?naneries"  and  is  set  free.  Then  it  begins  : 
"  I.  Don't  believe  everything  that  is  promised  or  told  you.  2.  Keep 
what  you  have  got,  when  possible.  3.  Don't  grieve  over  what  you 
have  lost  "  ^ — and  retiring  up  a  tree  sings  a  joyful  song,  of  which 
the  tenor  is,  "  Ha !  ha  !  what  a  fool  was  the  man  to  let  me  go  when, 
if  he  had  only  known,  I  have  a  jacinth  weighing  a  whole  ounce  in 

1  Literally  translated  in  the  Chastoieinent : 

(1)  Ne  croi  pas  quanque  tu  orras. 

(2)  Garde  bien  ce  que  tu  auras, 
Par  promesse  nel'  perdre  pas. 

{3)  Ne  trop  ne  soles  confondu 
Por  nule  riens  qu'aies  perdu. 


114  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

my  inside  ! "  This  of  course  sets  the  man  off  again,  weeping  and 
beating  his  breast,  till  the  bird,  resuming  its  lecture,  asks,  "  Did  I 
not  tell  you  not  to  believe  what  you  are  told  ?  How  is  it  possible 
that  I  could  have  a  jacinth  of  one  ounce  in  my  inside,  when  my 
whole  body  does  not  weigh  so  much  ?  Further,  I  told  you  not  to 
grieve  over  what  was  lost."  And  so  on  in  a  tiresome  and  self- 
conscious  strain,  which  makes  the  reader  long  for  the  society  of 
Brer  Rabbit  or  the  March  Hare. 

Yet  mythologically  this  is  an  important  and  far-reaching  apologue. 
It  first  appears  in  the  book  of  Barlaam  and  Josaphat,  where  the  bird 
by  the  way  is  a  nightingale.  The  Latin  translation  is  borrowed  in 
the  Gesta  Romanorum,  and  other  variants  will  be  found  in  the 
Golden  Legend,  the  French  mystery  Du  Roy  Advenir  (see  Parfait, 
Histoire  du  Theatre  Fran^ais)  in  John  Lydgate's  Tale  of  the  Chorle 
and  the  J5jrd  {14^0),  and  Hans  Sachs'  Three  Good  Useful  Advices 
of  a  Nightingale  (1555).     But  this  brief  parable  is  a  mere  interlude. 

To  return  to  more  serious  literature.  The  Story  of  the  Robber 
and  the  Moonbeam  (in  the  Fabliaux,  "  Du  larron  qui  embra^a  le  rai 
de  la  lune ")  is  more  curious,  if  scarcely  less  absurd,  than  that  of 
the  weeping  dog,  and  perhaps  worth  giving  in  extenso. 

"  I.  It  is  told  that  a  certain  robber  came  to  the  house  of  a  certain 
rich  man  with  the  object  of  stealing,  and  going  up  on  to  the  roof  to 
the  opening  {fenestrani)  by  which  the  smoke  went  out,  listened 
to  find  if  any  one  was  awake  inside.  And  the  master  of  the  house 
observing  this,  said  softly  to  his  wife,  '  Ask  me  aloud  ho7v  I  became 
possessed  of  tny  great  wealth,  and  insist  on  my  telling  you.''  2.  Then 
she  said  aloud,  '  My  lord,  how  is  it  that  you  have  so  much  wealth, 
when  you  were  never  a  merchant  ?  '  And  he  answered,  '  What  God 
has  given  that  keep  and  do  your  will  of  it,  and  do  not  enquire  how  I 
got  so  much  money.'  And  she,  as  had  been  enjoined  her,  pressed 
more  and  more  to  know  the  matter.  3.  At  last,  as  if  constrained  by 
the  prayers  of  his  wife,  the  master  said,  '  See  you  reveal  our  secrets  to 
no  one.     I  was  a  robber.'     But  she  replied,  '  It  is  a  marvel  to  me 


AN  IMPROVING  WORK.  115 

how  you  can  have  got  so  much  wealth  by  robbery,  since  we  have 
never  heard  any  complaint  or  scandal  about  it.'  4.  Then  he  said: 
'  A  certain  master  of  mine  taught  me  a  charm  {carfnen)  that  I  used 
to  say  over  when  I  climbed  on  to  the  roof,  and  going  to  the  hole  I 
took  hold  of  a  beam  of  the  moon  in  my  hand,  and  repeated  my 
charm  seven  times,  saying  "  Saulem  !  sauletn  I "  and  so  I  went  down 
without  hurting  myself,  got  together  all  the  valuables  in  the 
house  and  took  them.  Then  coming  again  to  the  moonbeam,  and 
again  repeating  my  charm  seven  times,  I  ascended  with  all  that  I 
had  taken  in  the  house,  and  carried  off  home  what  I  had  stolen.  By 
such  a  device  I  am  in  possession  of  the  wealth  which  I  have.'  5. 
Then  the  woman  answered,  '  You  have  done  right  to  tell  me  this 
story,  for  whenever  I  have  a  son  I  will  teach  him  this  charm  to  pre- 
vent his  living  in  poverty.'  And  the  master  answered,  '  Let  me  go 
to  sleep  for  I  am  tired  and  want  to  rest.'  A  person  acquainted  with 
infantine  histrionics  hardly  needs  to  be  told  that  '  in  order  the  more 
to  deceive  he  began  to  snore.'  6.  After  hearing  such  a  story  the 
thief  in  great  joy  repeated  the  charm  seven  times,  and  taking  the 
moonbeam  in  his  hand,  let  go  both  feet  and  hands,  and  fell  through 
the  smoke-hole  into  the  house,  making  a  loud  noise,  and  groaned 
aloud,  having  broken  his  arm  and  his  leg.  Then  the  master  of  the 
house,  as  if  ignorant,  said,  'Who  are  you  who  have  fallen  in  this 
manner  ? ' 

"  The  robber  answered,  '  I  am  the  unhappy  thief  who  believed 
your  deceitful  words.' " 

Poor  thief !  One  can  hardly  think  that  he  required  such  elabo- 
rate precautions.  He  would  probably  have  fled  at  a  menacing 
gesture,  and  certainly  burst  into  tears  at  an  unkind  word.  Yet  the 
mediaeval  pupil  is  quite  properly  impressed.    Thus — 

"  7.  The  son  answered,  '  Father,  blessed  be  thou  who  hast  taught 
me  to  avoid  crafty  counsels."  Which  seems  a  very  questionable  asser- 
tion, but  that  the  morahst  in  his  introduction  to  the  story,  "  Do  not 
believe  all  the  advice  you  hear,  till  you  have  tried  it  ...  .  lest  you 

I  2 


Ii6  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

fare  like  the  thief  who  believed  the  advice  of  the  householder,"  had 
rather  emphasised  the  point  of  view  of  the  criminal. 

Then  follows  a  sentence  of  obscure  profundity.  "  8.  A  philoso- 
pher says,  '  Beware  of  an  unleavened  coufisel,  till  it  be  fermented.^  " 

One  wishes  there  were  more  counsels  of  this  kind,  but  the  greater 
part  are  distinguished  by  a  distressing  vapidity.  What  makes  the 
volume  rather  difficult  to  read  is  that  though  divided  into  chapters, 
each  containing  a  fable  or  story,  and  then  a  string  of  morals  (with 
which  the  pupil  is  almost  as  well  primed  as  the  teacher),  they  mostly 
have  very  little  point,  and  never  a  conclusion,  generally  finishing  up 
with  the  familiar  "And  how  (or  what)  was  that,  father?"  Even 
when  the  last  sentence  appears  to  be  a  final  statement  of  the  matter, 
the  next  chapter  begins  with  "  for,"  and  the  weary  reader  finds  him- 
self off  again  upon  another  tack.  The  paragraph  just  quoted 
concludes  with  a  curious  piece  of  advice  given  by  Aristotle  in  a  letter 
to  Alexander  (the  Correspondence  of  Aristotle,  not  to  mention  the 
Works  of  Socrates,^  and  Plato's  astrological  book  on  The  Coiu, 
were  within  reach  of  every  mediaeval  writer,  though  hid  from  the 
scholars  of  our  own  day)  which  is  not  devoid  of  a  certain  coarse 
tact— 

"  Hasten  not  to  repay  a  debt  whether  of  good  or  evil ;  since  your 
friend  will  court  you,  and  your  enemy  fear  you  all  the  longer." 

The  story  of  the  robber  and  the  moonbeam  will  be  found  among 
those  in  the  Sanscrit  collection  known  as  the  Hitopadesa  (which,  as  a 
collection,  is  probably  not  older  than  that  of  Petrus  Alfonsus)  but 
is  very  likely  of  great  antiquity. 

A  very  similar  version  appears  in  the  Directorium  Vita  Humance, 
which  again  is  literally  translated  in  the  German  Book  of  the  Wisdom 
of  the  Ancient  Sages  (Strasburg,  1529).     On  the  other  hand  the  ver- 

^  It  is  worth  remarking  that  the  pseudo-Socrates  first  appears  in  the  Capita 
T/ieologica,  sive  scite  dicta  atque  electa  ex  diversis  turn  Christianorum  turn  extern- 
orum  libris  of  S.  Maximus  of  Constantinople  (ob.  662).  Paris.  2  vols,  folio. 
1675.  For  the  correspondence  ol  foseph  and  Pharaoh,  Scz.,  &c.,  see  Fabricius 
Bibl.  Med.  and  Inf.  Latin. 


AN  IMPROVING  WORK.  117 

sion  in  the  Gesta  Romanorum  ^  is  taken  from  the  Disciplina,  and  the 
editor  has  added,  out  of  his  own  head,  that  the  thief  was  detained 
by  the  householder  and  hanged  in  the  morning.  We  can  hardly 
believe  the  householder  capable  of  such  an  atrocity.  Still  more 
miserable  is  the  said  editor's  "  moralisation  "  of  the  story.  The  thief 
is  the  Evil  One  "  who  by  evil  thoughts  climbs  up  the  roof  of  the  heart, 
and  makes  an  entrance''  (the  original  thief  did  not  make  an  entrance, 
but  found  one  ready  made),  "  through  evil  compliance  "  ( ! )  There- 
fore we  should  be  watchful,  &c.,  &C|  Or,  again,  he  is  "  Lucifer  the 
beautiful,  who  with  his  whole  might  would  ascend  to  be  another  God  " 
(see  Isaiah,  chap,  xiv.),  "  and  he  broke  his  legs,  that  is  lost  his 
beauty  ( ! ),  which  God  had  given  him,  and  is  hanged  upon  the 
infernal  gallows,  from  which  may  He  protect  us  who  reigns  for 
ever."     If  this  application  be  not  far-fetched,  what  is  ? 

The  teacher  in  the  Disciplina,  whose  object  is  at  once  to  amuse 
and  instruct,  mamtains  no  high  level  of  seriousness,  and  descends 
to  details  of  common  life.  "  Do  not  speak  with  your  mouth  full." 
"  When  you  have  washed  your  hands  for  eating,  touch  nothing  but 
your  dinner,  till  you  do  eat."  (An  extraordinarily  involved  way  of 
expressing  so  simple  a  suggestion  !)  And  after  a  page  of  weary 
prattling,  the  youth  says  to  the  old  man,  "  When  I  am  invited  to 
dinner,  what  shall  I  do  ?  Eat  too  little  or  too  much  ?  "  The  old 
man,  avoiding  the  pitfall  of  "  Neither,"  into  which  any  modern 
instructor  would  have  fallen,  replies,  "  Too  much.  For  if  it  be  a 
friend  who  has  invited  you  he  will  be  glad  [will  he?],  but  if  an 
enemy,  he  will  be  vexed."  At  which  the  boy  laughed.  Both 
parties  were  by  this  time  getting  rather  feeble,  and  the  sage  gives 
a  fillip  to  the  flagging  conversation  by  a  few  anecdotes  of  "  May- 
mund  the  lazy,"  a  celebrated  domestic  servant.  An  old  man  once 
asked  him  (old  men  in  the  middle  ages  seem  to  have  made  a 
business  of  this  sort  of  aimless  cross-questioning),  "  how  much  he 
could  eat  ? "  Maymund  replied  with  a  counter-question,  "  Of 
^  Ch.  136,  where  for  "saulem"  we  read  "fallax"  (4to.  ed.  1497). 


Il8  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

whose  dinner — my  own  or  someone  else's?"  "Your  own."  Then 
said  Maymund,  "  As  little  as  possible  " ;  and  there  the  colloquy 
ended.  But  the  boy  was  anxious  to  hear  more  about  Maymund, 
one  of  the  most  trying  domestics  ever  known.  ^  Maymund  was  too 
lazy  to  get  up  and  shut  the  house-door  at  night,  when  he  was  told, 
but  said  that  it  was  shut  already.  In  the  morning,  when  the  con- 
verse question  arose,  he  said,  "  I  never  shut  it  because  I  knew 
you  would  want  it  open  in  the  morning."  Then  when  his  master 
hastily  exclaimed,  "  Get  up  and  do  your  work.  It  is  daytime  and 
the  sun  is  high."  Maymund  said,  "  If  the  sun  is  high  let  me  have 
my  dinner."  "  Villain,"  cried  the  master,  "  do  you  want  to  eat  in 
the  middle  of  the  night ? "  "If  it's  the  middle  of  the  night,  let 
me  go  to  sleep." 

In  a  Teutonic  story  one  feels  sure  that  some  brisk  action  would 
here  have  followed.  Indeed  this  is  precisely  that  species  of  "  nag- 
ging "  which  in  a  modern  slum  causes  the  rude  coster  (as  we 
know  from  police  reports)  to  throw  boots  and  furniture  at  his  wife. 
But  here  nothing  follows,  and  Maymund  goes  on.  In  the  night 
the  master  asks  him  if  it  is  raining.  Maymund  whistles  on  the 
dog  who  lay  outside,  and  feels  his  feet.  As  they  are  dry  he 
answers  "  No,  sir." 

"  Maymund,  is  the  fire  burning  ?  " 

Maymund  calls  the  "  mouse  catcher "  {fnurilegus,  in  'Ldidn  feles, 
Anglice  the  cat),  and  feeling  that  puss's  fur  is  cold,  replies  "  No, 
sir."  Maynmnd's  great  forte  was  his  loquacity.  The  chapter  (No. 
XXX.)  illustrating  this,  may  be  found  in  a  better  form  (entitled 
The  News)  in  a  recently  published  collection  of  fairy  tales. 

Maymund's  master  is  returning  home  from  the  market-place  in 
cheery  mood,  having  made  some  good  bargains.  He  sees  his  ser- 
vant coming  to  meet  him,  and,  knowing  the  latter's  habits,  enjoins 

^  See  Ellis's  Early  English  Metrical  Romances,  I.  140,  the  Sevefi  Wise 
Masters,  and  a  .volume  of  Fairy  Tales  recently  edited  by  Mr.  Jacobs. 


AN  IMPROVING  WORK.  119 

him  strictly  to  repeat  no  "evil  reports."  "Oh  no,"  said  Maymund, 
"  but  our  little  dog  Pipella  is  dead."  "  How  did  she  die  ? " 
"  The  mule  got  frightened,  broke  his  halter  {chamus  or  camus,  a 
rare  Greek-Latin  word  not  found  in  all  glossaries),  and  in  running 
away  trampled  her  to  death." 

"  What  became  of  the  mule  ?  " 

"  He  fell  into  a  well,  and  was  killed."  But  the  reader  will  observe 
that  this  question  and  answer  might  well  be  omitted,  since  it  is  im- 
material to  the  chain  of  interrogatories,  which  should  be  unbroken. 

"  What  frightened  the  mule  ?  " 

"  Your  son  fell  from  the  top  of  the  house  ^  and  broke  his  neck,  and 
that  frightened  the  mule." 

"  What  did  his  mother  do  ?  " 

"  She  died  of  grief." 

This  reply  also  is  clearly  out  of  place,  since  it  would  have  brought 
the  colloquy  to  a  natural  termination  before  half  the  "  news  "  has 
been  imparted. 

"  Who  is  looking  after  the  house?  " 

"  Nobody,  for  it  is  burnt  to  ashes  with  everything  inside  it." 

"  How  was  it  burnt  ?  " 

"On  the  same  night  the  mistress  died,  a  maidservant  who  was 
watching  for  her,  left  a  candle  burning ; "  and  so  on. 

The  conclusion  is  dull,  and  the  dialogue  clearly  required  a  few 
more  rehearsals.  It  should  run,  we  believe,  somewhat  in  this 
style — 

"  Who  is  taking  care  of  the  house  ?  " 

"  Nobody,  for  it  is  burnt  down." 

"  How  did  it  catch  fire  ?  " 

"Oh!  from  the  flaring  of  the  torches  at  your  mother's  funeral." 

^  Solarium — i.e.  sunning-place  (which  in  a  northern  climate  would  be  the 
"balcony") — Hochster  offen  liegender  Raiim  des  Hauses,  says  Diez.  Worterbttch 
der  Romanischen  Sprachen.  The  word  occurs  in  a  curious  passage  ( Claudius,  x. ) 
of  Suetonius.     See  the  Variorum  note,  ed.  1751. 


I20  AN  IMPROVING  WORK. 

"  My  mother  !  what  did  she  die  of?  " 

"  She  died  of  grief  at  your  son's  sudden  death." 

And  so  on,  making  a  completely  logical  "  Jack-to-fetch-the- 
mustard." 

This  might  well  be  as  interminable  as  the  narrative  of  the  royal 
story-teller,  whom  we  all  know,  and  who  duly  reappears  in  the 
Disciplina,  this  time  with  a  story  of  a  rustic  who  has  bought 
2,000  sheep,  and  has  to  take  them  across  a  river  two  at  a  time. 
So  he  takes  two  sheep,  puts  them  in  the  boat,  and  rows  across  the 
river. 

At  this  point  the  official  conteur  falls  asleep.  Awakened  by  the 
sleepless  monarch  and  ordered  to  go  on  with  the  story,  he  adds, 
"  Sire,  the  boat  is  small,  the  river  wide,  and  the  sheep  innumer- 
able. Let  the  man  ferry  them  across,  and  when  he  has  done  I 
will  finish  the  story." 

This  monarch,  we  feel,  would  have  appreciated  the  Chinese 
comedy  (described  in  Acosta's  entertaining  History  of  the  Indies), 
which  lasted  ten  days  and  ten  nights,  the  actors  working  in  shifts. 

Perhaps,  indeed,  the  clearest  impression  left  by  the  great  mass 
of  the  literature  here  considered  is  that  of  an  intense  and  dragging 
boredom  of  existence,  the  vacuity  of  which  was  to  be  dissipated 
at  all  hazards,  intellectual  and  literary. 

A  narrative  of  the  serious  kind  last  mentioned  could  hardly  have 
been  necessary  to  send  the  reader  of  the  Discipiitia  Clericalis  to 
sleep,  the  purpose  for  which  most  of  us,  like  the  poet  Wordsworth, 
use  to  count  imaginary  sheep.  Persevering  would  he  be  who 
remained  awake  so  long  as  to  hear  the  short  and  pithy  sermon 
from  a  hermit,  which  brings  the  work  to  a  close  with  an  inevitable 
reference  to  the  Day  of  Judgment,  and  (that  which  seems  to  have 
weighed  so  lightly  upon  mediaeval  story-tellers)  the  shortness  of 
human  life  ! 


IV. 

THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

(1740) 


Plate  of  the  capture  of  Porto  Bello  (see  p.  i^Z/>ost),  from  the  original  (Dutch)  edition  of  Exque- 
melin's  History  of  ttie  Buccaneers,  sm.  4to,  Amsterdam,  1678,  p.  88.  (The  illustrations  to 
this  volume  are  poorly  reproduced  in  the  English  translation  of  1684.) 


THE  PIRATE'S   PARADISE. 

(1740)1 

"  He  was  the  blood-thirstiest  buccaneer  that  ever  sailed — but  I  was  sometimes 
proud  that  he  was  an  Englishman  ....  I've  seen  his  topsails  with  these  eyes 
off  Trinidad,  and  the  cowardly  son  of  a  rumpuncheon  that  I  sailed  with  put  back, 
put  back,  sir,  into  Port  of  Spain." — Treasure  Island. 

T  is  perhaps  no  matter  for  serious  regret  that  from 
the  well-poHced  seas  of  the  modern  world,  that 
picturesque  hero — the  pirate — seems  almost  to  have 
vanished,  or,  in  those  remote  corners  where  the 
"  Black  Flag  "  still  flies,  to  cut  but  a  miserable  figure 
in  the  face  of  well-armed  and  civilized  society — miserable  alas ! 
because  no  longer  surrounded  by  the  halo  of  success. 

But  the  pirate  lives  in  story,  and  if  we  can  seldom  meet  him  except 
by  appointment,  on  the  high  seas,  yet  the  locality  of  his  former 
haunts,  of  the  true  "  Treasure  Islands  "  of  History  is  easily  to  be 
gathered  from  the  highly  actual  romance  of  Mr.  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson.  Is  not  the  vessel  called  the  Hispaniolal  Does  not 
Squire  Trelawney's  remark  (above  quoted)  sketch  for  us  the  haunts 
as  well  as  the  habits  of  the  ideal  pirate  in  one  dramatic  sentence  ? 

^  This  date  is  of  course  not  that  of  the  golden  age  of  piracy,  but  of  the  point  of 
view  from  which  it  is  regarded  in  the  work  here  reviewed. 


124  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

Moreover  in  what  the  historian  has  preserved  of  Flint's  own  log — 
"  offe  Caraccas  "  is  the  location  of  at  least  one  of  that  celebrated  cut- 
throat's undescribed  deeds  of  blood. 

The  real  "  Treasure  Islands  "  are  of  course  the  picturesque  group 
known — ever  since  poor  Columbus  just  four  hundred  years  ago 
mistook  one  of  the  Bahamas  for  the  coast  of  Japan — as  the  "  West 
Indies " — a  name  representing  a  concession  on  the  part  of  Geo- 
graphic Science  to  the  foible  of  a  great  man.  The  sanguine  explorer, 
like  the  inexperienced  Alpist  who  takes  each  successive  "  col "  for 
the  longed-for  summit,  imagined  that  he  had  reached  "  India  "  before 
his  little  flotilla  had  made  half,  or  indeed,  allowing  for  the  non- 
existence of  a  canal  at  Panama  (of  which  more  anon)  even  one  third 
of  the  way. 

The  singular  ocean  lake,  shut  in  on  the  south  and  west  by  the 
twisted  half-broken  strip  that  holds  together  the  two  Americas,  and 
protected  on  the  north  and  east  by  the  projecting  arm  of  Florida, 
the  broken  bar  of  Cuba  and  San  Domingo  (Hispaniola),  and  the 
long  curving  sweep  of  the  Windward  Islands,  appears  from  the  first 
glance  at  the  map,  as  a  little  world  shut  off  and  secluded,  remote,  as 
it  still  is,  from  any  centre  of  civilization,  which  we  might  expect  to 
possess  a  beauty,  a  climate,  and  perhaps  even  a  standard  of  morals 
entirely  its  own. 

The  ardent  prayer  of  Mr.  Kipling's  blase  hero. 

Ship  me  somewhere  east  of  Suez  where  the  best  is  like  the  worst, 
And  there  ain't  no  ten  commandments,  and  a  man  can  raise  a  thirst, 

would  have  been  answered  early  in  the  last  century  by  a  transporta- 
tion to  the  fertile  and  beautiful  Island  of  Jamaica,  the  very  heart  of 
the  sequestered  nook  just  described.  If  the  "  West  Indies  "  are  not 
exactly  "  east  of  Suez  "  (a  point  not  very  material  to  the  navigator 
of  the  eighteenth  century)  by  the  shortest  route  from  Great  Britain, 
they  would  have  supplied  all  the  other  essentials  here  demanded  in 
even  more  than  satisfying  quantity.     So  we  infer  from  a  series  of 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  125 

Letters  from  Jamaica,  which  have  just  reached  us,  although  addressed 
to  the  public  about  150  years  ago.^ 

A  mere  "  account  of  Jamaica  "  though  dedicated  to  the  Earl  of 
Eglinton  and  Winton,  is  a  thing  one  might  throw  aside  after  half 
an  hour's  after-dinner  perusal.  Dazzling  beauties  of  Nature,  sugar- 
canes,  slaves  (who  chronically  revolt  with  more  or  less  awful  con- 
sequences) hummingbirds  that  one  shoots  with  sand,  swamps,  fevers, 
and  rum — all  these  things,  including  the  habits  of  the  alligator  so 
graphically  depicted  by  Mr.  Waterton,  are  familiar  enough,  and  (except 
for  the  abolished  institution  of  slavery)  might  be  better  described  in 
a  modern  guide  to  the  Island.  But  when  we  stumble  in  Letters  IV. 
and  v.,  on  an  authentic  cameo  of  piratical  history  from  the  point  of 
view  of  an  inhabitant  of  the  capital  which  was  the  centre  of  the 
buccaneering  industry,  the  work  arrests  our  attention  at  once. 

To  revert  for  one  moment  to  the  explorations  of  Christopher 
Colon  is  not  to  digress — a  most  objectionable  practice — but  merely 
to  hitch  on  the  details  of  Mr.  Leslie's  veracious  romance  to  the  course 
of  general  history. 

It  need  hardly  be  remarked,  to  begin  with,  that  Columbus  no  longer 
enjoys  the  exalted  reputation  w^hich  he  once  had.  Of  his  seaman- 
ship and  general  ability  we  need  not  doubt,  but  in  respect  of 
avarice  and  bigotry  he  might  have  been  a  born  Spaniard.  Gold, 
the  gold  which  he  thought  and  wrote  was  a  most  excellent 
thing,  which  meant  "mastery  of  the  world,  and  could  even  bring 
souls  into  Paradise,"  constantly  occupied  his  thoughts. 

His  motives  therefore  for  the  voyage  to  the  "  West  Indies," 
though  overlaid  with  a  great  deal  of  superstitious  piety  and  indeed 
mysticism — for  at  one  time  he  seems  to  have  asserted  if  not  believed 
that  his  discoveries  were  independent  of  all  the  material  assistance 
derived  from  science  and  hydrography — were  not  very  much  better 
than    those  which   inspired  so  many    others   and  in   particular  so 

^  A  N'e'iv  and  Exact  Account  0/  Jamaica,  &c.  (by  Charles  Leslie).  3rd  edition, 
8vo,  Edinburgh,  1740. 


126  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

many  Spaniards  to  betake  themselves  to  a  territory  in  itself  inde- 
scribably attractive,  and  inhabited  by  the  most  guileless  of  savages. 
But  this  fact  does  not  diminish  the  interest  attaching  to  the  Biography  ^ 

^  Vila  di  Cristoforo  Colombo,  descritta  da  Fcrdinando  suo  figlio  cr'  tradotta 
da  Alfonso  Ulloa  (the  original  text  is  lost),  Dulau,  Londra,  8vo,  1867  (a  poorly 
printed  edition,  but  with  conveniently  large  margins),  supplies  a  most  natural 
and  fascinating,  if  not  perfectly  reliable  narrative.  In  the  first  expedition  (1492) 
the  orders  of  the  Admiral  on  leaving  the  Canaries  were  that  after  the  fleet  had 
done  700  leagues  of  "  westing,"  they  were  not  to  sail  during  the  night,  for  fear  of 
collision  with  land.  A  velvet  doublet  and  an  annuity  of  thirty  scudi  had  been 
promised  by  their  Catholic  Majesties  to  the  sailor  who  first  sighted  land,  and 
Columbus  himself  received  this  prize — having  sighted  some  moving  light  on  shore 
from  the  deckhouse  of  his  own  Caravel — pn  the  curious  ground  that  he  (the 
Admiral)  had  discovered  spiritual  "light  in  darkness,"  i.e.  surpassed  the  rest 
in  the  religious  fervour  of  his  belief  in  himself,  or  in  Providence,  although  a 
mariner  on  the  Pinta,  which  carried  more  sail,  claimed  the  reward,  apparently 
with  better  justification.  Ferdinand  gives  lively  details  of  the  voyage — the 
singing  of  the  "Salve  Regina"  every  evening,  the  birds  flitting  about  the 
rigging,  and  the  objects  floating  in  the  water  that  announced  the  vicinity  of  the 
long-desired  land. 

The  result  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus,  and  of  Amerigo  Vespucci  was  the 
famous  diplomatic  contest  between  Spain  and  Portugal  which  cannot  be  better 
summarized  than  in  the  words  of  Dyer  {Mod.  Europe,  I.  320).  "The 
theory  of  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  (see  the  entertaining  arguments  of 
Lactantius,  Div.  Inst.  III.  24),  on  which  the  discoveries  of  Columbus  were 
founded,  and  in  accordance  with  which  Spanish  and  Portuguese  adventurers  might 
have  come  into  ^collision  in  their  new  settlements,  was  an  heretical  notion  which 
could  not  for  a  moment  be  entertained  by  the  See  of  Rome.  Unfolding  the 
orthodox  map  of  Cosmas  Indicopleustes  "  (in  his  Topographia  Christiana,  com- 
posed 536  A.D.,  and  published  by  Montfaucon  1707),  "  from  which  it  appeared 
that  the  longer  the  Spaniards  sailed  to  the  west  and  the  Portuguese  to  the  east, 
the  farther  they  would  be  separated  from  one  another.  Pope  Alexander  VI.  drew 
from  north  to  south  a  line  of  demarcation  passing  100  leagues  west  of  the  Azores 
and  Cape  Verd.  All  to  the  east  of  this  line  he  gave  to  Portugal,  all  to  the  west 
to  Spain  (May  4,  1493)."  The  Bull  was  subsequently  modified  by  another  which 
shifted  the  line  of  demarcation  another  370  leagues  westward — a  trifling  alteration 
— in  order  to  secure  Brazil  to  the  Portuguese,  who  by  the  way  had  previously 
asserted  a  Papal  title  (derived  chiefly  from  Eugenius  IV.,  ob.  1447)  to  the  whole 
of  the  "  New  World,"  whatever  it  might  turn  out  to  include.  See  the  interesting 
chapter  in  Mariana — Historia  General  de  Espaila   xxxvi.  3,  Del  descubrimento 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  127 

which  describes  his  voyages,  and  supplies  the  first  chapter  in  the 
History  of  Europeans  in  the  West  Indies. 

According  to  the  account  given  by  his  son  (chap,  xxi.) 
Columbus  first  landed  on  Thursday,  October  11,  1492,  at  the  island 
of  "  Los  Lucagios,"  which  he  afterwards  tells  us  (chap,  xxv.)  was 
called  by  the  natives  Guanahani,  and  which  he  christened  San  Salva- 
dor ;  but  modern  authorities,  we  believe,  have  decided  in  favour  of 
Mariguatta,  now  a  deserted  island. ^  He  subsequently  proceeded 
from  one  island  to  another,  guided  by  the  reports  of  their  gold-bearing 
properties.  It  was  at  the  close  of  his  second  voyage  that  leaving 
Cuba  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1494,  he  set  sail  for  Jamaica,  which  had 
been  reported  to  him  as  particularly  rich.  The  natives  at  first  made 
an  unusual  exhibition  of  hostiUty,  but  being  soon  awed  by  a  few  shots 
into  quiet  behaviour,  came  and  exchanged  victuals  and  other  things 
for  "  any  article  offered  them."  The  admiral  did  not  land,  but 
coasted  round  towards  the  west  some  way,  before  returning  to 
Cuba. 

The  biographer  records  that  a  very  young  Indian  came  to  Colum- 
bus and  begged  to  be  taken  to  Spain,  and  in  spite  of  the  supplica- 
tions of  his  relatives  that  he  would  return  with  them,  remained  on 
board,  orders  being  specially  given  that  he  should  be  kindly  treated. 
The  incident  has  quite  a  pathetic  interest.  Before  this  "very  young 
Indian  "  had  reached  middle  age,  his  compatriots  at  least  knew  all 
that  they  could  desire  of  the  avarice,  tyranny,  and  cruelty  of  Castile, 
and  must  have  cursed  the  day  when  the  caravel  of  Columbus  first 
hove  in  sight. 

Columbus  was  the  first  of  the  long  succession  of  gold-hunting 
adventurers — his  later .  followers  made  no  pretence  of  religion — to 

de  las  Indias  Occidentales.  In  spite  of  the  ' '  incredible  activity "  of  Spanish 
explorers,  "it  has  not  yet  been  quite  clearly  ascertained"  he  tells  us  (writing 
about  1590)  "whether  Western  India  joins  on  to  Eastern  {se  continua  con  la 
Oriental)  or  whether  north  of  Cathay  in  China,  and  of  Japan  there  is  a  stretch  of 
sea  which  divides  them"— the  strait  discovered  by  Vitus  Behring  in  1728. 
'   E.  J.  PajTie,  Hiitory  of  the  New  World  called  America. 


128  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

visit  these  beauteous  but  ill-fated  shores.  In  1509  Jamaica  and  San 
Juan  were  thoroughly  "  settled  "  by  the  Spaniards,  after  their  fashion. 
We  turn  to  that  most  tragical  of  records,  the  Short  Aaoutit  of  the 
Destruction  of  the  West  Indies,  a.ddTessed  to  Philip  11.  in  1552,  by 
the  humane  Bartolomeo  de  Las  Casas,  and  under  the  brief  heading 
which  concerns  these  two  islands,  we  read  of  dreadful  outrages,  crimes 
(it  is  a  relief  to  hear)  previously  rehearsed,  new  and  singular  atrocities 
and  barbarities,  murdering,  burning,  roasting,  torturing,  hunting  with 
wild  dogs,  forced  labour  in  the  mines,  &c.,  of  which  the  net  result 
is  that  of  "these  unhappy  innocents,"  of  whom  there  had  been 
600,000  souls,  there  are  now  scarcely  left  200  !  "  and  all  died  with- 
out religion  or  the  sacraments."  ^ 

In  such  fashion  was  European  civiHsation  and  religion  first  im- 
posed upon  the  simple  and  harmless  inhabitants  of  the  "  West  Indies." 

To  connect  their  career  with  the  general  history  of  Great 
Britain,  Jamaica,  as  the  veriest  Jacobite  would  now  admit,  is  a 
valuable  possession  conferred  upon  us  (in  1655)  by  the  enterprise  of 
the  usurper  Cromwell.  The  leaders  of  the  expedition,  we  all  know, 
were  on  their  return  committed  to  the  Tower,  and  Sir  W.  Penn  ap- 
pears to  admit  to  Mr.  Pepys  {su^  anno  1663)  that  the  failure  to  seize 
more  than  the  one  island  of  Jamaica  was  his  own  fault.^ 

At  this  date  a  company,  established  by  royal  charter,  was  under 
contract  to  supply  the  Spanish  colonies  in  these  parts  with  3,000 
slaves  per  annum.  Indeed  the  business  of  importing  negroes  to 
the  West  Indies  first  inaugurated  by  Sir  John  Hawkins  (whose 
profits  were  shared  by  Queen  Elizabeth)  in  1562,  continued  to 
flourish  for  some  two  centuries  later.  Yet  Penn's  acquisition  was 
not  thought  much  of  at  the  time,  and  Oliver  Cromwell,  who  ap- 

^  Las  Casas,  Fr.  Bart  hoi.  de  (1474- 1566),  Breve  relacion  de  la  Destruccion  de 
las  Indias  Occidentales  (Seville,  1552).     8vo,  Londres,  1812. 

2  The  original  account  of  the  expedition- ^bwrwa/  of  the  English  Army  in  the 
West  Indies,  by  an  eye-witness  (Harl.  MS.  VI.  372)  is  cited  in  Carlyle's  Letters 
and  Speeches  of  Cromwell. 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  129 

pears  to  Mr.  Leslie  to  have  been  a  person  not  devoid  of  a  certain 
malign  ingenuity,  was  even  suspected  of  circulating  too  glowing 
accounts  of  its  attractions,  in  order  to  get  discontented  Royalists 
to  go  there.  Anyhow,  "  persons  of  desperate  fortune  "  betook  them- 
selves in  large  numbers  to  Jamaica.  After  the  Restoration,  again, 
this  class  was  augmented  by  followers  of  the  Republican  party. 
The  "  old  grudge "  disturbed  even  so  distant  a  colony  worse  than 
ever.  Royalists  being  favoured,  while  Cromwellians,  ^^  the  only  party 
that  understood  the  art  of  war"  were  excluded  from  all  places  of 
trust  and  profit.  The  Government  party,  therefore,  in  the  island 
found  the  encouragement  of  the  already  popular  industry  of 
"  Pyracy "  to  be  "  necessary,"  both  to  counterbalance  the  force  of 
these  malcontents  and  to  lure  them  into  some  profitable  occu- 
pation. This  simple  policy,  the  reader  will  learn  with  interest, 
was  a  complete  success.  The  colony,  whose  population  (placed  at 
20,000  in  1740)  had,  it  is  true,  but  little  increased  since  Crom- 
wellian  days,^  became  "the  resort  of   the    Privateers,    who   made 

^  The  "peopling"  of  Jamaica  was  effected  in  strange  and  dreadful  manners. 
First  the  Royalist,  closely  followed  by  the  Cromwellian  "malcontents,"  with 
tribes  of  the  desperate  characters  bred  of  a  disturbed  time.  Secondly,  one  of  the 
most  awful  pages  in  Irish  history  is  the  correspondence  of  Henry  Cromwell  with 
the  Protector  upon  this  subject.  Mr.  Secretary  Thurloe  writes  that  "a  stock  of 
Irish  girls  and  young  men  are  wanting  for  the  peopling  of  Jamaica  "  ;  and  Henry 
Cromwell  answers  :  "  Concerning  the  supply  of  young  men,  although  we  must  use 
force  in  taking  them  up,  yet,  it  being  so  much  for  their  good"  (exactly  how  much 
the  reader  may  conjecture)  .  .  .  "  it  is  not  doubted  that  you  may  have  such  a 
number  as  you  think  fit  to  make  use  of."  He  thinks  also  it  were  well  to  send 
1,500  or  2,000  boys  to  the  place  mentioned.  "  We  can  well  spare  them :  and 
who  knows  but  it  may  be  the  means  of  making  them  Englishmen — /  mean,  rather. 
Christians .'"...  In  reply  Thurloe  informs  him  that  ' '  the  Council " — as  a  man 
might  order  trout  for  the  stocking  of  a  stream  ! — "have  voted  ^,<XX)  girls  and  as 
many  boys  to  go  to  Jamaica."  It  is  not  clear  that  they  went.  Some  of  these 
passages  may  be  found  collected  in  Moore's  Memoirs  of  Captain  Rock.  Moreover, 
hundreds  of  the  victims  of  Judge  Jeffreys,  after  the  Monmouth  rising,  were 
despatched  to  the  same  place  (1685).  See  the  account  given  m  John  Coad^^ 
Memorial  (cited  by  Macaulay),  published  by  Pickering,  1848. 

K 


I30  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

Jamaica  a  kind  of  home."  This  "  was  no  sooner  known  "  than  all 
persons  with  a  distaste  for  the  Ten  Commandments,  all  who  found 
"  life  too  inactive," — or  law,  we  may  presume,  too  active, — in  Old  Eng- 
land, eagerly  transported  themselves  thither.  Malcontents,  Republican 
or  Royalist,  "  soon  found  their  account  in  joining  with  the  Privateers, 
forgot  their  old  murmurs,  acquiesced  in  the  administration,  and  in  a 
short  time  all  distinction  of  parties  was  quite  lost."  ^ 

Such  was  the  Arcadian  state  of  Jamaica  during  what  appears  to 
have  been  the  golden  age  of  piracy  up  to  the  last  decade  of  the 
seventeenth  century.     Governors  and  planters  vied  with  each  other 
in  providing  the  necessary  arms  and  vessels,  expecting  their  return 
in  the  wealth  which  the  successful  buccaneer  regularly  squandered 
in  the  friendly  port.     The  funds  thus  accumulated   and  dissipated 
became  the  life  and  soul  of  the  colony.     The  gentlemen  of  fortune 
who  actively  engaged  in  the  trade  "  had  such  surprising  success  as 
will  perhaps  scarce  gain  belief  in  succeeding  ages."     The  author 
hardly  knows  how  to  describe  them  to  us.     He   regrets,  of  course, 
that  "  the  stain  of  Pyracy  sullies  their  great  actions,  and  caused  them 
to  be  regarded  as  disturbers  of  mankind,  and  villains  ; "  but  calling 
in  the   assistance  of  our  venerable  friend  the  "  better  cause,"  he 
assures  us  that  "  their  fame  might  have  equalled  that  of  any  antient 
or  modern  heroes."     He   "  cannot  tell  whether  it  was  bad  policy, 
although  it  was  certainly  bad  morality,  to  encourage  these  despera- 
does," but  is  sure  "  that  a  summary  of  their  lives  will  suggest  a  great 
many  useful  reflections  "  to  the  reader.     And  this  it  certainly  does, 
the  most  obvious  perhaps  being  the  contrast  between  the  weakness 
of  what  the  author  calls  the  "  silly  dastardly  Spaniard  "  (whose  mono- 
poly of  the  West  Indies,  as  we  read  in  Mr.  Green's  history,  was  first 
broken  up  by  our  capture  of  Jamaica)  and  the  increasing  superfluous 
energy  of  Great  Britain. 

^  It  is  moreover  a  curious  fact  that  after  the  Act  of  Union  in  1706,  so  many 
Scotchmen  emigrated  to  the  Island,  that  it  was  called,  Dr.  Somerville  tells  us 
"  the  grave  of  Scotland." 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  131 

But  the  first  of  the  heroes  here  sketched  by  Mr.  Leslie  is  a  Por- 
tuguese, Bartholomew,  the  model,  piratically  speaking,  of  a  self- 
made  man,  who  started  with  nothing  but  "  the  courage  of  a  lion." 
He  begins  life  in  a  "  leaky  scooner  (a  small  kind  of  sloop  used  for 
carrying  sugars  to  Port  Royal)  mounted  with  four  iron  guns."  His 
crew  being  "  all  brave  and  to  be  depended  upon,"  they  make  no 
difficulty  of  attacking,  off  Cape  de  Corriente,  in  Cuba,  a  fine  ship  of 
twenty  guns  and  seventy  men,  bound  to  the  Havannah ;  are  beaten 
off  with  loss,  but,  coming  up  with  her  again,  renew  the  attack  until 
she  is  glad  to  surrender.  Taking  to  the  prize,  which  they  find  "  an 
excellent  relief,"  they  steer  for  Cape  St.  Antony,  on  the  west  side  of 
Cuba,  meaning  to  water,  but,  unexpectedly  falling  in  with  three 
Spanish  coastguards,  are,  after  a  smart  engagement,  taken  and  made 
prisoners.  As  they  had  on  board  120,000  weight  of  cacao  and 
70,000  pieces  of  eight,^  this  depressed  their  spirits  exceedingly.  The 
vessels,  being  dispersed  by  a  storm,  were  driven  to  the  port  of 
Campechie  (Campeachy,  on  the  west  coast  of  Yucatan),  where  the 
Pyrates  were  well  known,  and  Bartholomew  was  "  without  much 
form  or  ceremony,"  condemned  to  be  hanged.  In  the  night,  how- 
ever, he  stabbed  his  keeper,  floated  himself  ashore  upon  two  earthen 
jars,  fled  to  the  woods,  and  lived  on  herbs  and  fruits  for  many  days, 
eluding  the  strictest  search  and  hidden  in  a  hollow  tree.  Thence, 
almost  famished,  he  strikes  out  overland  for  some  forty  leagues ; 
crosses  a  great  river,  being  a  poor  swimmer,  on  an  old  board  and  a 
few  boughs  cut  off  by  means  of  nails  "  sharpened  with  incredible 
pains  "  ;  and,  after  enduring  calamities  which  one  can  well  believe 
"  nothing  but  his  invincible  daring  spirit  could  have  supported," 
arrives  at  Golfo  Triste  (Ascension  ?),  and  is  welcomed  by  a  crew  of 
Pyrates  then  in  the  bay.  Bartholomew  did  but  ask  a  boat's  crew  of 
twenty  men  to  return  to  Campeachy,  "and  be  revenged  on  the 

^  As  to  the  value  of  this  coin  we  may  refer  the  reader  to  a  passage  in  Pepys's 
Diary  (May  11,  1663),  where  he  records  his  disputing  with  Sir  G.  Carteret 
whether  the  "piece  of  eight"  were  worth  4?.  $d.  or  4^.  9a'. 

K  2 


132  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

Spaniards ;  "  a  feat  which  he  at  once  accomplishes,  finding  himself 
thus  master  of  a  fine  vessel  where  he  had  lately  been  confined  and 
condemned  to  be  hanged,  and  also  of  a  vastly  rich  prize,  having  on 
board  much  merchandise,  besides  what  had  been  originally  taken 
from  himself — "  a  happy  success,"  which  gave  the  simple  Pyrate  "  a 
great  deal  of  pleasure."  With  the  proceeds  he  proposed  to  make  a 
"good  deal"  at  Jamaica;  but  unfortunately  his  ship  went  ashore  on 
the  banks  called  the  Jardines,  near  the  island  of  Pinos,  where  she 
split ;  and  Bartholomew  and  company,  barely  escaping  with  life, 
returned  to  Jamaica  to  seek  their  fortunes  anew. 

Brasiliano,  the  Dutchman  expelled  from  Brazil  at  the  Portuguese 
invasion,  was  another  who,  having  taken  refuge  in  the  British  colony, 
and  being  anxious  to  get  on,  "  saw  no  way  so  likely  to  do  it  as  by 
turning  Pyrate,"  in  which  line  he  soon  distinguished  himself  by  the 
same  qualities.  "  He  feared  nothing,  avoided  no  danger,  and  always 
went  upon  the  most  difficult  enterprises."  This  was  indeed  the 
golden  rule  of  Pyracy  which,  accidents  apart,  invariably  led  to  success. 

Vessel  after  vessel  did  Brasiliano  and  his  friends  take,  regularly 
returning  to  Port  Royal  to  squander  away  their  gold  in  every  kind  of 
debauchery.  On  sea  or  on  land  "nothing  could  withstand  the 
valour  of  these  desperadoes."  They  shrank  from  no  encounter  at 
any  odds,  and  their  victories  were  generally  followed  by  "horrid 
cruelties  with  which  they  tortured  the  poor  Spaniards  after  a  manner 
shocking  to  relate,"  partly  in  order  to  get  more  money,  partly,  it 
seems,  in  mere  wantonness  of  fury.  Whatever  they  got  was,  however, 
spent  in  a  very  short  time,  the  Pyrate  being  quickly  reduced  to 
beggary.  "  They  have  been  known  to  spend  2,000  or  3,000  pieces 
of  eight  in  one  night."  On  these  occasions  wine  literally  flowed 
down  the  streets.  The  successful  buccaneers  insisted  upon  every  one 
partaking  of  their  hospitality;  at  other  times  they  showered  the 
beverage  about  the  streets,  wetting  the  clothes  of  passers-by,  which 
seemed  to  them  an  "excellent  diversion."  Some  persons  objected, 
doubtless,  but  on  the  whole  it  was  considered  good  for  trade. 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  133 

When  poverty,  on  one  occasion,  drove  Brasiliano  to  sea  again,  he, 
like  Bartholomew,  was  captured  whilst  calmly  "  viewing  the  Fort "  of 
Campeachy.  The  Governor  determined  to  hang  him  and  his  crew ; 
but  their  captain  had  the  address  to  write  a  letter,  as  from  other 
Pyrates,  threatening  horrid  cruelties  to  any  of  the  Spanish  nation 
who  should  ever  fall  into  their  hands.  And  this  letter  had  the  desired 
effect,  so  well  known  were  both  the  courage  and  cruelty  of  the  pirate 
community. 

Brasiliano  and  his  friends  were  sent  home  in  the  galleys,  from 
which  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  they  shortly  after  escaped,  and 
continued  to  commit  "horrid  barbarities"  on  the  Spanish  coast. 
Brasiliano  had  an  inveterate  spite  against  the  race,  and  expressed  it 
in  a  way  which  left  no  room  for  misconception.  Some  he  roasted 
alive  on  wooden  spits,  others  he  tortured  with  lighted  matches  put 
under  their  armpits.  In  sober  truth  "  those  that  died  were  the  lucky 
ones."  The  Spaniards  do  not  seem  at  the  time  to  have  provoked 
this  conduct.  It  proceeded  rather  on  the  principle  of  odisse  quern 
Iceseris,  or  took  its  rise  in  the  deadly  boredom  caused  by  every 
interval  of  repose  in  a  life  of  "battle,  murder,  and  sudden  death." 
Brasiliano  continued  thus,  we  read,  for  many  years  still  successful  in 
his  attempts,  and  highly  regarded  by  his  fellow-villains,  over  whom 
he  had  such  influence  that  in  all  his  adventures  there  never  was  one 
mutiny,  "which  "  (not  the  mutiny,  but  its  absence)  "is  a  rare  thing 
aboard  of  a  Pyrate  ship." 

It  being  remembered  that  these  particular  freebooters  were  but 
shining  lights  among  the  numerous  throng  of  their  fraternity,  we 
are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  the  effect  on  Spanish  commerce  was 
considerable.  The  greatness  of  Spain — a  thing  of  scarce  more  than 
a  century's  apparent  duration — had  never  very  deep  roots.  It  made 
much  show  while  it  lasted  by  an  enormous  extravagance  and  vanity, 
but  was  almost  from  the  first  eaten  at  the  core  by  bigotry,  fanatic 
blindness,  cowardice,  and  cruelty,  which  the  efforts  of  a  score  of 
Brasilianos  could  hardly  have  repaid  as  it  deserved,  for  no  deeds 


134  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

attributed  to  the  worst  pirate  equal  those  recorded  of  his  countrymen 
by  Las  Casas. 

The  contemporary  records  of  the  great  Armada  (introduced  only 
recently  to  English  readers  by  the  late  Mr.  Froude)  give  an  astonish- 
ing picture  of  material  force  and  wealth  nullified  by  the  moral  and 
physical  incompetence  of  which  so  many  examples  are  to  be  noticed 
in  Leslie's  narrative,  and  by  a  peculiar  sort  of  sanctified  stupidity.^ 
The  power  of  Spain,  then  at  its  height,  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Armada  and  during  the  seventeenth  century  steadily  declined,  but 
she  still  had  a  practical  monopoly  of  the  West  Indies.^ 

It  is  rather  surprising,  therefore,  to  be  told  that  "the  Spaniards 
found  themselves  so  miserably  harassed  that  they  resolved  to  diminish 
the  number  of  their  trading  vessels,"  hoping  by  this  means  that  the 
pirates  would  leave  off,  finding  they  could  get  no  good  prizes ! 
But  the  Dutch,  it  may  be  remembered  on  two  occasions  during  the 
seventeenth  century,  "forbad  trade"  in  order  to  save  it  from  England. 
Another  evidence  of  the  straits  to  which  the  proprietors  of  the  Indies 
were  reduced  may  be  noted  elsewhere  in  the  well-known  account  of 
Anson's  voyages  round  the  world.  The  solitary  island  of  Juan 
Fernandez,  where  early  mariners  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  a  rest 
after  rounding  the  terrible  Cape  Horn,  was  also  a  favourite  resort  of 
pirates,  for  whom  the  native  goats  afforded  a  useful  supply  of  meat. 
The  Centurion,  touching  there  in  1740,  found  several  of  these 
animals  bearing  the  mark  of  Alexander  Selkirk  (who  was  taken  off 
by  Wood  Rogers  and  Stephen  Courtney,  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
privateers,  of  Bristol,  in  1709);  but  most  of  them  had  been  driven 
up  into  the  high  ground  by  the  "wild  dogs"  with  which  the 
Spaniards  had  stocked  the  island  in  order  to  render  it  less  attractive 

^  See  the  account  of  the  extraordinary  religious  apparatus  brought  in  the  Spanish 
Armada,  coupled  with  the  insufficiency  of  powder,  shot,  anchor-ropes,  &c.,  also  Dr. 
Sharp's  well-known  Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  reporting  the  examination 
of  the  first  Spanish  prisoners  taken.  Collect  ton  of  original  Letters  (2  vols.  1755), 
vol.  i. 

^  See  the  passage  cited  from  Montesquieu's  Letters  {Memoirs,  p.  1 57,  post). 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  135 

to  pirates.  These  dogs  would  even  attack  a  man.^  But  to 
return  to  the  West  Indies.  These  concessions  on  the  part  of 
the  merchant  community  to  the  organised  forces  of  piracy  produced 
quite  the  opposite  effect  to  that  intended.  They  were,  in  fact, 
but  the  beginning  of  piracy  on  a  really  extensive  and  wholesale 
scale. 

For  the  buccaneers  "  were  resolved  to  have  money  from  them  at 
any  rate,"  and  so,  finding  no  ships  of  value  upon  the  sea,  they 
determined  in  this  extremity  to  land  and  plunder  the  country.  The 
proceedings  of  Lewis  Scot,  who  first  began  this  method  of  robbing, 
resemble  closely  those  of  the  successful  bushranger  of  thirty  years  ago. 
To  use  the  Australian  term,  Lewis  Scot  "stuck  up"  the  town  of 
Campeachy,  and  did  not  leave  it  until  he  had  exacted  an  enormous 
ransom.  Mansvelt  meanwhile  captured  the  island  of  St.  Katharine's 
and  took  everything  that  was  valuable,  extorting  heavy  ransoms  from 
the  prisoners. 

But  the  name  to  conjure  with  at  this  time  was  that  of  John  Davis, 
a  native  of  Jamaica.  His  most  celebrated  feat  was  a  successful 
attack  upon  N  icaragua  with  only  eighty  men. 

Nicaragua  lies  some  seventy  miles  inland  from  the  Caribbean 
coast.  The  pirates,  therefore,  having  hidden  their  vessel  in  a  creek, 
and  "using  the  night-time  lest  their  black  designs  should  be  dis- 
covered," sailed  in  canoes  up  the  river,  which  American  engineers 
have  since  made  part  of  a  canal,  and  arrived  at  the  town  "  on  the 
third  night."  The  sentry  taking  them  for  fishermen,  they  were 
allowed  to  land  without  question ;  and,  knocking  at  the  doors  of  the 
chief  inhabitants,  were   admitted  without   suspicion,  and   at   once 

^  One  wonders  if  these  were  the  dogs  (perros  bravos)  which  the  Spaniards,  at 
an  earlier  date,  had  trained  to  kill  and  eat  the  natives  of  the  West  Indian  Islands. 
See  Las  Casas,  Relacion;  also  Coluber's  Sea  Affairs,  1735,  p.  295.  Voyage  Round 
the  IVorM (1740-1744)  of  George  Lord  Anson,  Bk.  II.,  ch.  i.  "Anson,"  writes 
Walpole  to  Mann  (June  18,  1744),  "is  returned  with  a  vast  fortune.  He  has 
brought  the  Acapulca  ship  into  Portsmouth,  and  its  treasure  is  computed  at 
;^ 500,000.     He  escaped  the  Brest  squadron  in  a  mist." 


136  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

"  began  to  exercise  their  wonted  cruelties.  Some  they  immediately 
murdered,  others  they  bound  and  gagged  " ;  and  then  proceeded  to 
pillage,  houses,  churches,  and  everything. 

The  citizens,  indeed,  presently  got  together,  but  could  do  no  more 
than  the  inhabitants  of  an  Australian  town  surprised  by  the  Kelly 
gang.  The  pirates,  having  secured  all  that  they  desired,  retreated 
to  their  canoes  and  got  back  to  their  ships  in  safety,  with  "  a  great 
deal  of  riches  "  and  many  prisoners.  The  latter  they  compelled  to 
beg  provisions  for  them  from  the  neighbouring  plantations,  and  then 
stood  out  to  sea;  not,  however,  before  500  well-armed  Spaniards 
appeared  on  the  sea-side.  But  the  pirates  let  fly  several  broadsides 
into  them,  which  "put  the  party  into  no  small  confusion,"  and 
sailed  off  with  the  booty — 50,000  pieces  of  eight — to  Jamaica,  where 
it  was  spent  in  the  usual  fashion. 

"  Davis  grew  famous.  This  exploit  gained  him  universal  esteem." 
The  planters  "  were  in  love  with  his  success,"  and  nothing  was 
talked  of  in  Jamaica  but  his  courage  and  conduct;  and  another 
fleet  was  soon  provided,  of  which  he  was  admiral,  and  with  which  he 
made  a  more  distant  expedition  to  St.  Augustine,  in  Florida.  The 
place  was  defended,  if  w^e  can  say  so,  by  a  castle  with  200  men. 
But  Davis  stormed  the  fort,  pillaged  the  town,  "  committed  horrid 
murders,"  and  retired  without  the  loss  of  one  man. 

During  this  period,  says  the  reflective  historian,  the  colony  was  in 
its  greatest  glory,  and  money  was  so  plentiful  that  Port  Royal  was 
reckoned  the  richest  spot  of  ground  in  the  world — and  thus  we  are 
introduced  naturally  to  the  history  of  one  "  whose  name  is  to  this 
day  a  terror  to  Spain." 

The  bushranging  associations  above  referred  to  will  be  recalled  by 
the  mention  of  the  name  of  Morgan.  Sir  Henry  Morgan,  who  was 
born  in  the  principality  of  Wales,  the  son  of  a  respectable  farmer, 
might  have  been  a  Pirate  of  Penzance,  so  prosaic  was  the  practical 
success  of  his  career. 

After  running   away  to  Bristol,  where  he   bound   himself  as  a 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  137 

servant  for  four  years,  he  was  duly  transported  to  Barbadoes  and 
there  sold.  Having  faithfully  served  his  term,  he  shipped  himself 
to  Jamaica,  determined  to  follow  his  natural  bent  in  the  direction 
of  piracy,  and  at  once  found  a  satisfactory  engagement. 

His  resolution  and  courage  in  several  prosperous  expeditions  on 
the  Spanish  coasts  were  much  admired,  and  having  noted  the  ilB 
effects  of  the  extravagance  and  debauchery  popular  among  his 
associates,  he  practised  a  thoughtful  economy,  "  lived  moderate, 
having  vast  designs  in  view,"  and  soon  invested  his  honest  savings  in 
a  vessel  of  his  own.  Prize  after  prize  did  he  bring  into  Port  Royal, 
by  rapid  steps  ascending  the  ladder  of  piratical  success.  His  renown 
next  attracted  the  attention  of  the  veteran  Mansvelt,  above  men- 
tioned, who  engaged  Morgan  as  his  vice-admiral. 

With  fifteen  ships  and  500  men  they  swept  down  upon  the  little 
island  of  St.  Katharine's,  on  the  "  rich  coast "  of  Central  America, 
and  made  themselves  masters  of  it,  leaving  a  garrison  in  the  place, 
which  they  intended  to  keep  for  their  own  use.  The  adjoining 
island  they  also  pillaged,  and  a  further  attack  upon  the  territory  of 
Costa  Rica  itself  was  only  cut  short  by  the  vigorous  efforts  of  the 
Governor  of  Panama. 

The  island  of  St.  Katharine's — which  the  Governor  of  Jamaica 
refused  to  occupy — not  daring  to  give  such  open  support  to  the 
pirates,  was,  shortly  after  Mansvelt  had  "  ended  his  wicked  life," 
retaken  by  the  Spaniards. 

Morgan,  now  an  independent  pirate  king,  soon  found  himself  at 
the  head  of  twelve  ships  and  700  fighting  men.  He  first  thought  of 
attacking  Havannah,i  but  decided  to  begin  with  a  smaller  enterprise 
upon  the  "fine  inland  town  "  of  Puerto  del  Principe.     Owing  to  the 

^  Havannah  possessed  a  harbour  capable  of  holding  a  thousand  vessels,  pro- 
tected by  two  forts.  It  was  taken  in  August,  1762,  by  Pocock  and  Lord  Albemarle 
— one  of  the  largest  captures  ever  made,  and  the  most  important  exploit  of  the 
war,  the  "bag"  being  thirteen  vessels  and  near  ;^3,oc)0,ooo  in  gold  nd 
merchandise. 


138  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

escape  of  a  prisoner,  the  place  got  the  alarm,  and  the  Governor  set 
ambuscades,  blocked  up  the  roads,  and  encamped  with  an  armed 
force  in  front  of  the  town.  Morgan  and  his  friends  were  "  surprised," 
but  could  not  think  of  retreating — it  was  indeed  too  late.  They 
took  to  the  woods,  avoided  the  ambuscades,  and  soon  reached  the 
plain  where  the  Spaniards  awaited  him.  The  usual  result  followed. 
^'Nothing  could  stand  against  the  fury  of  the  P)Tates,  who  fought 
like  so  many  madmen."  After  a  regular  engagement  of  four  hours, 
in  which  the  Governor  and  many  others  were  killed,  the  Spaniards 
fled,  and  the  town,  after  some  defence,  was  taken. 

The  usual  "  horrible  barbarities "  followed ;  men,  women,  and 
children  were  shut  up  in  the  churches  and  almost  starved,  while  the 
pirates  plundered  and  devoured  their  property.  Torture  was  freely 
practised  on  the  same  business-like  principles.  Enormous  ransoms 
were  exacted.  Many  unhappy  wretches  died  of  the  torments, 
besides  those  that  succumbed  to  famine. 

Disturbed  by  the  unseasonable  piece  of  news  that  a  force  was 
coming  to  attack  them  from  Santiago,  the  pirates  at  last  decamped 
with  all  they  could  get.  One  painful  incident  marred  the  success  of 
the  expedition — an  "unhappy  division  among  the  crew."  An  English 
sailor  had  stabbed  a  Frenchman  !  Cetait  trap.  Morgan  carried  the 
criminal  in  chains  to  Jamaica  and  then  "  caused  him  to  be  hanged.'" 

But  the  life  of  a  successful  and  industrious,  nay,  virtuous,  pirate 
was  not  unmixed  bliss.  The  spoils  of  Puerto  del  Principe  hardly 
paid  the  debts  of  Morgan's  company  in  Port  Royal.  So  they  started 
out  again — 450  men  in  nine  small  vessels  in  the  direction  of  Costa 
Rica.  Not  till  they  were  well  out  at  sea  did  Morgan  confide  to 
them  his  design  of  attacking  Porto  Bello,  "one  of  the  strongest 
places  in  the  West  Indies,"  and  a  great  centre  of  commerce,  with  a 
population  of  "  500  families."  A  few  pirates  objected.  But  Morgan 
pointed  out  that  "  if  their  numbers  were  small,  their  hearts  were 
great,"  adding  (with  perhaps  an  imperfect  recollection  of  Shakes- 
peare), "the  fewer  men,  the  greater  share  of  plunder."     Thus  con- 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  139 

vinced,  and  guided  by  an  Englishman  who  had  been  a  prisoner  in 
the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  and  who  had  chosen  to  "  list  a  Pyrate," 
solely  with  a  view  to  revenge,  they  sailed  up  miles  of  river,  and 
finally  assaulted  the  place  from  the  land.  It  was  indeed  a  danger- 
ous undertaking,  and  in  the  course  of  capturing  three  castles,  armed 
with  artillery,  Morgan  came  as  near  as  ever  to  being  nonplussed, 
although  his  men  took  their  aim  so  well  that  they  never  missed  to 
shoot  the  Spaniards  when  the  latter  came  to  load  the  guns.  Both 
parties  behaved  with  equal  courage.  The  attacking  party  applied 
fireballs  to  the  gates,  but  the  garrison  threw  down  huge  stones  and 
flasks  of  powder.  The  "  crafty  Pyrate's "  idea  of  employing  the 
monks  and  nuns  taken  from  the  monasteries  to  set  up  their  scaling 
ladders  for  them  showed  an  extravagant  reliance  upon  Spanish 
orthodoxy,  and  was  defeated  by  the  resolution  of  the  Governor,  who 
fired  with  the  greatest  fury,  killing  great  numbers  of  the  religious. 
Fortunately,  at  such  a  moment  of  embarrassment  Morgan  observed 
the  "English  colours"  (a  pleasing  reflection  for  the  nineteenth - 
century  Briton)  "  hoisted  upon  the  other  fort "  which  had  succumbed 
to  another  detachment  of  his  forces.  "  This  sight  encouraged  his 
fainting  troops  to  the  attack,"  and  shortly  after  the  whole  place  was, 
if  one  can  say  so,  at  their  mercy.  The  Governor,  with  whom  one 
feels  much  sympathy,  died  at  his  post  fighting  and  killing  pirates 
with  his  own  hand  to  the  last. 

Every  variety  of  outrage  was  let  loose  upon  the  wretched  in- 
habitants. The  pirates,  sailing  under  the  British  flag,  appear  to  have 
carried  about  with  them  a  whole  arsenal  of  tortures  worthy  of  the 
Inquisition.  Elderly  gentlemen,  "  reported  to  be  rich,"  were  hung 
up  by  the  "  thumbs  and  great  toes  "  and  roasted  with  a  fire  made  of 
palm-leaves,  until  they  or  their  friends  bid  the  required  amount  of 
ransom,  and,  the  business  of  barbarity  being  accomplished  upon  the 
captives,  "  the  Pyrates  made  game  of  their  misery."  This,  indeed, 
and  the  debaucheries  of  Port  Royal  were  the  only  relaxations  to  the 
sombre  routine  of  their  profession.     One  hundred  thousand  pieces 


140  THE  riRATE'S  PARADISE. 

of  eight  was  the  required  ransom,  and  some  inhabitants  vainly 
trusted  to  a  rescuing  party  from  Panama.  But  a  hundred  pirates 
soon  disposed  of  the  latter  hope,  "  killing  an  incredible  number," 
merely  to  show  that  Morgan  was  not  to  be  trifled  w^ith. 

That  our  pirates  "  were  welcome  guests  at  Jamaica  "  we  can,  after 
what  we  have  been  told,  well  understand.  "  The  planters  caressed 
Morgan,"  and  the  inferior  sort — the  tradesmen,  we  presume — "  soon 
drained  his  associates  of  their  money."  The  Governor  of  Jamaica 
gave  Morgan  a  fine  new  vessel  of  thirty-two  guns,  and  he  soon  found 
himself  at  the  head  of  "i,ooo  brave  resolute  fellows."  The  vessel 
indeed  chanced  to  blow  up  with  several  hundreds  aboard,  but,  Mor- 
gan being  fortunately  uninjured,  all  the  rest  were  soon  replaced. 
Their  next  venture  touched  the  utmost  limit  of  audacity.  To  attack 
Maracaibo  they  sailed  up  an  inland  lake — a  sort  of  sea,  in  fact, 
guarded  at  the  mouth  by  a  fort — forced  their  way  in,  reached  the 
town,  and  after  immense  trouble  (and  the  indefatigable  employment 
of  torture)  succeeded  in  getting  a  fair  amount  of  booty.  The  in- 
habitants indeed  took  to  the  woods,  in  a  manner  which  exasperated 
Morgan,  concealing  the  possessions  which  they  dared  not  even 
attempt  to  defend,  and  had  to  be  hunted  out,  the  Spaniards  on  the 
coast  having  all  the  time  thus  occupied  for  repairing  their-  defences 
and  cutting  off  the  pirates'  retreat  by  blocking  up  the  narrow  passage. 
This,  in  fact,  they  did,  and  Morgan's  party  on  their  return,  "  tired," 
as  we  are  pathetically  informed,  "  with  repeated  rapes  and  murders," 
found  the  fort  strongly  garrisoned  and  provided  with  artillery,  and, 
if  that  were  not  enough,  three  Spanish  men-of-war  guarding  the 
entrance  of  the  lake. 

The  reader  will  have  inferred  from  the  expressions  of  Mr.  LesUe, 
which  we  have  ventured  to  quote,  the  difficulty  experienced  by  this 
gentleman  in  concealing  or  subduing  his  affectionate  admiration  for 
a  class  of  persons  to  whom  the  happy  British  colony  which  he  had 
made  his  home  owed  so  much  of  its  prosperity.  Although  recollect- 
ing himself  sufficiently  to  exclaim  now  and  again  upon  their  wicked- 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  141 

ness  and  cruelty,  this  language  may  be  significantly  compared  with 
what  he  says  elsewhere  of  the  barbarities  exercised  upon  their  masters 
by  a  few  revolted  slaves.  But  if  the  somewhat  laborious  attempt  to 
whitewash  Morgan  from  the  charge  of  complicity  in  "  horrid  bar- 
barities," of  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  print  a  detailed  cata- 
logue, smacks  of  a  patriotic  partisanship,  nothing  showed  up  more 
clearly  than  the  Maracaibo  affair  the  sterling  qualities  of  this 
prince  of  pirates. 

He  and  his  troop  were  practically  done  for — outnumbered  and  cut 
off,  yet  such  was  the  respect  inspired  by  the  mere  name  of  Morgan 
that  the  Spanish  Governor  proposed  to  let  them  pass  if  they  would 
give  up  all  the  spoils  and  prisoners  taken  during  the  expedition. 
The  pirates,  instead  of  jumping  at  this  proposal,  regarded  it  as  "  shock- 
ing." "  Tlie  riches  they  had  got  (as  the  Spanish  Governor  seemed 
not  to  understand)  they  had  exposed  their  lives  to  obtain  ;  and  they 
resolved  to  quit  with  life  before  tamely  resigning  what  they  had 
bought  at  so  dear  a  price."  Nor  did  they.  Morgan's  ready  resource 
at  once  devised  a  fire-ship,  which  looked  quite  unlike  one.  Its  port- 
holes were  fitted  with  counterfeit  cannon,  and  there  were  imitation 
pirates,  in  picturesque  attitudes  on  the  deck,  made  of  wood,  and  pro- 
vided with  "  hats  and  Montera  caps."  This  soon  disposed  of  the 
first  Spanish  man-of-war.  The  second  ran  aground,  the  third  fell  an 
easy  prey,  and  matters  soon  wore  a  different  complexion.  Indo- 
mitable courage  and  straight  shooting  shortly  reversed  the  position  of 
parties  altogether.  The  pirates  '■'■  accepted  of  15,000  pieces  of  eight, 
and  thereupon  went  quietly  away  "  with  twenty  times  that  amount  in 
jewels,  merchandise,  and  slaves.  What  were  the  reflections  of  the 
Governor  in  his  fort  and  of  the  captains  and  crews  of  the  "  three 
Spanish  men-of-war"  we  are  not  told. 

After  a  few  minor  successes  Morgan,  whose  fame  was  now  at  its 
height,  proceeded  to  the  great  exploit  for  which  he  is  famous  in  his- 
tory, to  wit,  the  sack  of  Panama,  perhaps  the  greatest  feat  recorded 
in  all  the  annals  of  piracy. 


142  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

The  fort  of  Chagres — a  preliminary  step — was  captured  in  a  curious 
way.  "  One  Pyrate  happened  to  be  wounded  with  an  arrow  ;  he 
pulled  it  out  and  wrapped  a  Httle  cotton  about  its  bloody  point,  put 
it  in  his  musket,  and  fired  it  off  to  the  Castle."  The  cotton  ignited, 
and  happening  to  alight  near  the  enemy's  powder  magazine  blew  it 
all  up.  "This  soon  made  them  yield,"  and  on  August  i8,  1670, 
Morgan  started,  at  the  head  of  1,200  men,  upon  his  last  grea 
expedition. 

We  cannot  here  describe  it  in  detail. 

How  the  pirates  marched  for  days  through  a  country  laid  waste  by 
the  Spaniards  (who  had  ample  notice  of  their  approach),  enduring 
"  every  kind  of  misery,"  so  that  they  v^exe  forced  to  gnaw  the  leaves  of 
trees,  until  at  last,  when  "  the  high  steeple  of  Panama  "  appeared  in 
view,  joy  filled  every  buccaneering  breast,  and  they  threw  their  caps 
into  the  air  and  shrieked  aloud,  we  leave  the  reader  to  imagine. 
Parties  of  horse  and  foot  came  out  to  meet  them,  but  "  thought  it 
not  proper  "  to  come  within  musket  range.  The  great  guns  of  the 
city,  presumably  ill-directed,  played  upon  their  camp ;  but  "  the 
Pyrates,  who  were  used  to  such  kind  of  musick,  pulled  out  their 
satchels  and  fell  to  supper." 

In  the  great  engagement  which  followed,  outside  the  walls,  the 
Spanish  Governor  brought  into  the  field  400  horse,  3,000  foot,  200 
Indians,  and — a  curious  detail — 2,000  wild  bulls,  which  proved 
of  less  use  than  the  "  Lucanian  cows  "  of  Hannibal. 

Two  hundred  pirates  indeed  fell,  but  the  town  was  taken.^  An 
incredible  slaughter  (were  anything  incredible  at  this  stage  in  Mr. 
Leslie's  history)  was  made  of  the  inhabitants.  Finally,  7,000  houses, 
"  mostly  of  cedar,"  were  burnt  down ;  in  fact,  the  whole  town  was 

1  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Drake's  expedition  (in  1595)  had  been  altogether 
deterred  from  marching  to  the  attack  of  Panama  by  the  newly  erected  fort.  They 
returned  on  board,  and  Sir  F.  Drake  dying  soon  afterwards  (Hawkins  had  died 
just  before)  went  back  home.  Four  hundred  wild  bulls  had  been  tried  on  Drake 
at  San  Domingo  (1585).     Collider,  p.  72. 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  143 

reduced  to  ashes.  It  is  painful  to  learn  that  "the  blame  of  this 
black  and  barbarous  action  "  was  generally  laid  on  Morgan,  although 
a  justification  of  him  was  published  by  one  of  the  parties  actually 
concerned,  alleging  that  the  act  had  been  done  in  his  absence  and 
without  his  orders,  and  the  whole  lamentable  occurrence  was  rather 
to  be  attributed,  in  the  author's  opinion,  to  a  certain  nasty  "re- 
vengeful temper  "  of  the  Spaniards,  prompting  them  "  to  disappoint 
the  expectations  "  of  brave  and  industrious  buccaneers.  The  latter, 
however,  remained  in  this  unhealthy  spot  some  three  months,  un- 
earthing "  millions  "  of  gold  and  silver  from  wells  and  cisterns,  where 
it  had  been  hidden,  and  extorting  as  much  more  by  the  processes 
already  described,  from  such  "  unhappy  captives "  as  they  could 
get  hold  of.  Returning  to  Chagres,  we  are  told  they  "made  a 
dividend,"  larger  probably  than  that  of  any  trading  company  of 
the  date. 

The  profits  of  this  kind  of  enterprise,  which  doubtless  laid  the 
foundation  (in  the  seventeenth  century  and  later)  of  many  a  great 
mercantile  fortune,  were  certainly  enormous ;  the  most  necessary 
form  of  capital  being  a  high  degree  of  moral  (or  immoral)  courage 
and  a  hardy  disregard  of  the  finer  feelings  of  civilisation.  Commerce, 
the  wasteful  cultivation  of  the  richest  soils,  was  all  very  well.  It  was 
better  to  capture  a  mine,  and  occupy  it — a  tenant  against  will — for 
three  weeks,  while  the  forced  labour  of  natives  brought  up  eighty 
pounds  weight  of  gold  dust ;  but  it  was  best  and  simplest  of  all  to 
seize  ready  piles  of  coined  gold,  or  merchandise  packed  for  transmis- 
sion and  sale.  The  principle  had  been  enunciated  long  before  by 
Raleigh  in  his  descent  on  St.  Thomas.  "  I'his  is  the  true  gold  mine, 
and  those  who  think  of  any  other  are  fools  !  "  Morgan's  company 
brought  off  from  Panama  175  mules'  burden  of  silver,  gold,  and  other 
precious  spoils.  Each  sailor  received  200  pieces  of  eight,  and  "  it 
seems  probable  "  (a  reflection  in  which  we  may  respectfully  concur) 
that  Morgan,  who,  upon  their  mutinous  demand  for  more,  was  glad 
to  sail  off  privately  with  a  few  trusty  friends,  "  reserved  too  large  a 


T44  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

share  for  himself."  In  any  case,  he  reached  Jamaica  with  400,000 
pieces  in  specie. 

The  fall  of  this  great  man  from  such  a  pinnacle  of  renown  and 
fortune  is  a  lamentable  affair  which  recalls  our  attention  to  history. 

The  question  whether  piracy  was  to  be  encouraged  or  tabooed  was 
the  problem  of  home  policy  occupying  the  attention  of  each  succes- 
sive Governor,  and  there  were  eleven  Governors  in  the  course  of 
forty-two  years.  The  ceaseless  agitation  in  favour  of  "  local  option  " 
in  this  matter  perhaps  tried  these  officials  as  severely  as  the  climate. 
To  favour  piracy  was  to  be  popular  with  "  the  trade,"  and  with  the 
enterprising  inhabitants  of  Jamaica  in  general.  To  oppose  it  was  to 
secure  at  least  the  formal  approval  of  the  authorities  at  home.  In 
fine,  "  sharp  memorials  "  from  the  Spanish  authorities  addressed  at 
this  period  to  the  English  Government  had  their  effect,  and  piracy 
was  discouraged  for  a  while.  Morgan,  who  had  nei'er  acted  without  a 
commission}  refused  to  prosecute  any  further  designs  when  the 
Governor  recalled  it.  He  was  indeed  threatened  vaguely  with 
punishment  for  his  "  pyratical  courses "  in  the  past,  but  '*  his 
money  " — 

"  So  useful  it  is  to  have  money.     Heigho  !  " 

"saved  him  at  that  time."  He  purchased  a  plantation  and  settled 
down  to  a  civil  career,  was  made  a  councillor  of  Jamaica,  and  after- 
wards knighted  by  the  King.     He  even  became  Lieutenant-Governor 

^  The  editor  of  the  recent  new  edition  of  Exquemelin's  famous  History  of  the 
Buccaneers  (1893)  seems  to  make  a  mistake,  as  pointed  out  by  a  reviewer  in  the 
AtheiKEum,  in  ignoring  this  important  fact.  The  code  of  law  in  force  in  Jamaica 
since  the  governorship  of  Sir  Thomas  Lynch  (1682)  and  abstracted  in  Leslie's 
account,  made  it  a  capital  felony  "for  any  person  to  serve  in  America  in  an  hostile 
manner  against  any  foreign  Prince,  State,  or  Potentate  in  amity  with  the  King  of 
Great  Britain  without  special  license  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  Governor." 
It  should  also  be  added  that  blasphemy  and  profane  swearing  were  subject  to  a 
penalty  of  ;^20  for  every  offence,  &c.,  &c.  "You  will  observe,"  naively  remarks 
the  author,  ' '  that  whatever  bad  character  be  given  of  this  place  proceeds  not  from 
want  of  good  regulations,  but  from  a  neglect  of  putting  them  in  execution." 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  145 

of  the  island  ;  yet,  nevertheless,  he  was  called  to  account,  like 
Raleigh,  for  actions  sufficiently  authorised  in  years  long  past,  and 
sent  a  prisoner  to  England,  where,  unaccused  and  unheard,  he 
languished  and  died,  the  victim  of  a  "  Court  faction." 

A  detestation  of  everything  Spanish  is  a  characteristic  feeling  of 
the  time  and  place. 

In  the  good  old  days  of  Morgan,  laments  the  author,  "  no  Spaniard 
durst  insult  a  Briton.  .  .  .  English  colours  struck  terror  into  whole 
fleets.  .  .  .  Now  (1738)  our  brave  sailors  work  in  the  Spanish 
mines,  our  merchants'  effects  are  seized.  .  .  .  We  may  complain, 
but,  good  God  !  we  dare  not  make  reprisals." 

Piracy,  vigorously  suppressed  in  1689 — Sir  Henry  Morgan  died 
in  1690 — revived  at  intervals  during  the  eighteenth  century,  notably 
in  the  case  of  the  famous  "  Blackbeard  Teach,"  who  seems  by  all 
accounts  to  have  been  the  blood-thirstiest  of  all  the  buccaneers, 
and  the  true  prototype  of  Captain  Flint  of  Treasure  Island. 

Teach  took  to  piracy  in  1716.  The  peccadilloes  of  Morgan 
pale  before  his  atrocious  barbarities.  When  his  crew  grew  too 
large  he  "  marooned  "  half  of  them,  by  the  ingenious  artifice  of  a 
pretended  wreck,  upon  a  desert  island,  and  sailed  away  with  the 
more  desperate  remainder.  At  mess  he  laid  his  pistols  on  the  table 
and  fired  at  his  officers  (or  those  who  had  not  taken  the  hint  and 
retired)  merely  to  maintain  an  atmosphere  of  discipline.  When 
asked  if,  in  case  of  his  death,  his  wife  or  any  one  knew  where  his 
treasures  were  hid,  he  replied,  "Only  the  d — 1  and  myself  know 
that." 

Teach  was  killed  a  few  years  later  in  a  hand-to-hand  combat 
with  a  lieutenant  of  the  royal  navy.  But  privateering  by  no  means 
ceased  at  his  death. 

The  career  of  Port  Royal  was  indeed  cut  short  by  the  appalling 
earthquake  of  June  7,  1692,  which  seemed  to  many,  as  similar 
calamities  had  appeared  to  the  pious  Las  Casas  a  century  and  a 
half  earlier,  the  Providential   punishment   of  the  iniquity  of  the 


k 


146  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

inhabitants.  As  to  that,  Providence  might  have  suffered  from  an 
ejtibarras  de  clioix.  The  wickedness  of  the  West  Indies  was  pro- 
verbial. Its  historical  record  for  the  preceding  two  centuries  had 
begun,  as  we  have  seen,  with  a  catalogue  of  the  most  appalling 
outrages  and  barbarities  known  to  history.  Every  spot,  every  settle- 
ment, named  after  all  the  saints  and  dogmas  known  to  the  Catholic 
religion,  was  stained  with  blood.  The  most  horrible  crimes  of 
Brasiliano  or  Teach  were  child's  play  to  the  foul  monstrosities 
which  the  Brevissima  Relacion  de  la  Destruccion  de  las  Yndias 
disclosed  to  the  civiHsed  European  world  in  1552,  especially  as 
the  latter  were  exercised  upon  the  simple,  innocent,  and  defenceless 
natives,  the  former  against  a  well-armed,  though  cowardly  and 
corrupt,  race  of  Europeans,  who,  when  they  had  the  chance,  retorted 
in  kind. 

The  tone  of  colonial  morals  in  the  eighteenth  century  does  not, 
however,  quite  satisfy  the  author  from  whom  we  have  been  quoting. 
His  heart  is  indeed  with  the  pirates,^  which  leads  him,  after  singing 

^  The  exact  definition  of  "piracy"  is  a  point  of  some  delicacy  to  the  English 
historian,  these  being  matters  which  it  is  difficult  to  regard  from  a  cosmopolitan 
point  of  view.  The  Spanish  historian  Mariana  naturally  speaks  of  Elizabeth's 
great  admiral  as  '■^  el pirata  Drake."  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  is  of  course  the  most 
interesting  case,  the  practical  decision  of  which  turned  on  a  sudden  "  exigency  " 
of  foreign  politics,  as  is  explained  very  clearly  in  two  of  James  Howell's  immortal 
letters.  King  James,  who  would  perhaps  have  appeared  as  a  sleeping  partner  in 
the  gold-mine  venture,  had  it  been  successful  (James  Howell  regarded  it  as  an 
"altogether  airy  and  supposititious  mine."  "  IVlio  7uoiild  not  pi-oviise  mines,  Jiay, 
mountains  of  gold,  for  liberty  ?"),  betrayed  his  plans  for  the  descent  upon  the 
island  of  St.  Thomas  to  the  Spanish  Governor  of  that  island,  in  whose  cabinet 
the  document,  communicated  by  Raleigh  to  the  King  in' the  strictest  confidence,  was 
afterwards  found.  Howell  is  convinced  that  the  Royal  Patent  should  have 
protected  him.  But  the  influence  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador  was  very  strong, 
and  "there  was  more  than  an  overture  at  that  time  of  a  Spanish  match." 
Gondomar  (letter  of  March  28,  1618)  "  speaks  high  language,"  asked  an  audience 
of  James,  saying  he  had  but  one  word  to  say  ;  and,  entering  the  Royal  presence 
in  a  towering  passion,  "he  said  only  ^Pirates,  Pirates,  Pirates,'  and  so  departed." 
"  I  believe  he  will  never  give  him  (Raleigh)  over  till  he  halh  his  head  off  his 


THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE.  147 

the  praises  of  Sir  Henry  Morgan,  self-made  man,  buccaneer,  states- 
man, and  martyr,  to  a  reflection  which  would  otherwise  appear  un- 
called for,  "  I  would  not  have  you  imagine  that  I  look  upon  vice  as 
the  origine  of  virtue.'^  There  was,  indeed,  room  for  a  little  misappre- 
hension. The  persons  whose  constancy,  bravery,  and  other  virtues  are 
here  lauded  to  the  skies  by  the  patriotic  colonist  were  more  cruel  and 
bloodthirsty,  more  repulsive  to  humanity  than  the  very  alligators  and 
venomous  reptiles  of  their  adopted  home,  while  the  moral  atmosphere 
of  the  insular  aristocracy,  described  as  "  haughty  "  in  disposition, 
leading  the  life  of  petty  despots,  and  despising  all  intelligent  industry, 
was  even  more  unhealthy  than  the  climatic  conditions  which  en- 
couraged it.  But  when  our  author,  carried  away  by  an  academic 
indignation  against  the  dead  and  gone  buccaneers,  exclaims,  "  No  ! 
Such  principles  I  look  upon  as  base,  and  the  dazzling  consequences  of 
them  I  view  with  an  eye  of  equal  horror,"  we  can  hardly  take  his 
assurance  au  pied de  la  lettre.  The  "dazzling  consequences"  were 
highly  profitable  to  Jamaica.     The  hero  of  Panama,  whom  John 

shoulders."  Raleigh  was  executed  October  29,  1618,  although  Queen  Anne  of 
Denmark  wrote  a  special  letter  to  her  "kind  dog"  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  to 
intercede  for  him.     (Dalrymple,  Memorials,  1762,  p.  58.) 

It  was  funny,  observes  Howell,  ' '  that  the  same  man  should  be  condemned  for 
being  a  friend  to  the  Spaniards,  and  lose  his  head,  under  the  same  sentence,  for 
being  their  enemy." 

The  richest  of  all  Spanish  mines — according  to  the  author  just  quoted — i.e.  those 
in  Potosi,  only  paid  6  per  cent,  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  centurj-.  But 
this  fact  only  rendered  the  richly-laden  Acapulco  still  more  attractive.  "Spanish 
galleons  not  yet  in  sight "  is  the  constant  refrain  of  Anson  and  other  pious 
navigators  of  the  eighteenth  century,  what  time  scores  of  "  waggon  loads"  of  gold 
and  jewels  went  up  from  Bristol  to  the  Bank,  and  a  large  proportion  of  our 
"  Pyrates"  must  have  found  employment  in  more  legitimate  maritime  enterprises. 
Their  irregular  service  had  long  been  the  best  training  school  of  an  effective 
marine.  The  first  Van  Tromp  himself  (Martin,  1597-1653)  began  as  "  cabin-boy 
to  an  English  pirate,  who  had  killed  his  father,  and  taken  the  Dutch  man-of-war 
of  which  he  was  captain."  See  Samuel  Colliber's  Critical  History  of  English  Sea 
Affairs  (2nd  ed.  Svo,  1739)  a  rare  and  valuable  work  compiled  from  French  and 
Dutch  sources. 

L  2 


148  THE  PIRATE'S  PARADISE. 

Evelyn  (meeting  him  at  Lord  Berkeley's  in  October  1674)  naturally 
compared  with  Sir  Francis  Drake,  was  the  sort  of  person  whom  cir- 
cumstances seemed  at  the  time,  and  for  long  after,  imperiously  to 
require  "  to  keep  both  the  Spaniards  and  the  French  in  awe."  Their 
"insolence,"  especially  the  former's,  exasperated  a  race  consciou^  of 
superior  ability,  character,  and  physique.  Nor  had  cosmopolitan 
theories  of  the  immorality  of  a  policy  of  "  annexation  "  yet  begun  to 
influence  the  growth  of  the  empire.  Peace,  therefore — not  undis- 
turbed by  domestic  trouble,  for  in  1735-6  the  island  had  been  in 
arms  for  nine  months  together  against  the  rebellious  negroes,  finally 
conciliated  by  the  humaner  policy  of  Hon.  Edward  Trelawny,  the 
last  Governor  mentioned — was  often  endured  with  impatience. 

With  1739  came  the  destruction,  by  Admiral  Vernon,  of  Porto 
Bello — when  Commodore  Browne  fired  400  shots  in  twenty-five 
minutes  against  the  castle — and  with  the  recrudescence  of  war  the 
spirits  of  the  colony  revived.  Mr.  Leslie  concludes  his  little 
volume  in  a  happier  tone  : — 

"  The  Privateers  have  had  a  'WO?tderful  success,  and  again  {if  the 
war  continues)  Jamaica  will  be  the  richest  spot  in  the  tiniverse." 


Tailpiece  of  Jacob  Tonson's  (1725). 


V. 
A   MEDLEY  OF    "MEMOIRS." 


CCompedium  Robcrti  Guagufnifu  pet  iraiicorum  gcios. 


Title-page  from  Rob.  Gaguin's  Compcndivm  (of  French  History,  from  Pharamoiid,  with  the 
additions,  to  1491) — Itnpressit  ntrsns  diligens  ac  peritus  chalcographvs  Anthotiius  bohe- 
iiitre  in  inclyto  Farisionim  gymnasio  .  .  .  .  A.n.  1514.  __  Sm.  8vo.  The  text  of  this  %vcrk 
begins  "  Franci  (ut  pleraeque  alls  nationes)  a  Trojanis  prcdiisse  gloriantur. ' 


A   MEDLEY   OF   "MEMOIRS." 

History  is  the  great  Looking-glass  through  which  we  may  behold  with 
ancestral  eyes  the  various  actions  of  ages  past,  and  the  odd  accidents  that  attend 
time,  discern  the  different  humours  of  men,  and  feel  the  pulse  of  former  times. 

James  Howei.i,. 
Ayez  les  choses  de  la  premiere  main,  puisez  a  la  source  ;  les  premiers  com- 
mentateurs  se  sont  trouves  dans  le  cas  ou  je  desire  que  vous  soyez. 

La  BRUvfeRE. 


RIGINAL  authorities  "  are  things  with  the  import- 
ance of  which  we  have  all  of  us,  since  the  modern 
renaissance  of  criticism  and  scholarship,  been  made 
thoroughly  acquainted. 

In  the  ideal  text-book  of  nineteenth-century  edu- 
cation we  walk,  so  to  speak,  upon  a  very  mosaic  of 
citations  through  galleries  of  genuine  antiquities,  carefully  selected 
and  arranged  to  give  us  the  due  proportion  of  contemporary  feeling 
and  local  colour,  while  the  mind  of  the  historian  of  the  higher  order 
represents,  one  may  respectfully  presume,  a  sort  of  refined  and  con- 
centrated essence  of  everything  that  was  ever  said  or  done  in  the 
period  he  has  made  his  own,  but  lightly  flavoured  with  his  "  personal 
■equation." 

This  was  not  always  so  ;  not,  for  example,  in  the  more  conven- 
tional days  of  the  eighteenth  century,  during  which  history,  even  when 
•composed  by  the  "person  of  quality,"  was  apt  to  become  a  mere 
rechauffe  of  respectable  but  scantily  examined  traditions,  of  the 
ideas  which  it  was  thought  proper  to  hold  of  certain  famous  epochs 


152  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

and  personages  with  whom  the  common  world  could  not  in  due 
respect  claim  a  very  intimate  acquaintance. 

Gibbon,  indeed,  set  a  splendid  example  of  telling  us,  with  the 
sociable  enthusiasm  of  a  lover  of  books,  where  he  got  the  materials 
used  in  building  that  great  "bridge  from  the  old  world  to  the  new," 
which  is  to  most  of  us  yet  the  main  highway  across  the  dark  forests 
and  dismal  swamps  of  the  early  Middle  Ages.  But  to  many  a  histo- 
rian of  Gibbon's  date,  and  still  more  to  historians  of  a  preceding 
generation,  "authorities"  were  a  mystery  concerning  only  the  learned 
author. 

And  their  use  was  sometimes  a  matter  of  indifference,  and  some- 
times of  serious  fraud.  Did  not  Johnson  himself,  while  sneering  at 
the  "verbiage  "  of  Robertson  and  the  "  foppery  "  of  Dalrymple,  prefer 
Dr.  Goldsmith's  Natural  History  simply  on  the  ground  that  (having 
been  constructed,  at  the  great  lexicographer's  own  suggestion,  without 
reference  to  facts)  it  more  closely  resembled  a  "  Persian  romance  "  ? 
And  even  if  "  facts  "  and  "  authorities  "  were  to  hand,  their  treatment 
was  not  that  to  which  we  are  accustomed.  Thus  when  Archdeacon 
Coxe  forwarded  the  Oxford  and  Townshend  papers  to  Dr.  Soraer- 
ville,  the  historian  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  the  favour  was  coupled 
with  a  suggestion  that  the  proprietors  of  the  documents  would  be 
glad  if  he  (Dr.  S.)  could  see  his  way,  by  their  evide?ice,  to  Justify  the 
Whig  Ministry  for  rejecting  ike  terms  of  peace  offered  by  Louis  XIV. 
in  1707-9.^  The  conscientious  historian  came  to  a  quite  opposite 
conclusion,  yet  suppressed  a  note  on  the  ground  that  it  was  indeli- 
cate to  criminate  statesmen  upon  evidence  supplied  by  their  de- 
scendants !  This,  at  such  a  proximity  of  date,  would  be  natural 
enough,  but  none  the  less  delusive  to  posterity.  But  the  truth  is  that 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  though  the  most  casual  of  historians 
would  probably  have  asked  for  a  few  "  papers  "  to  give  an  antiquarian 
flavour  to  his  work — just  as  Goldsmith  was  on  the  point  of  studying 
Natural  History  until  warned  by  the  learned  Doctor  of  the  respon- 
^  Sonierville's  Hist,  of  his  mvn  Time,  Svo,  1861,  p.  290. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  153 

sibility  this  would  involve — the  modern  critical  spirit,  that  which 
inspires  the  very  latest  German  (or  American)  explorer  into  Venetian 
archives,  was  almost  unknown,  and  though  educated  writers  might 
know  that  "original  authorities"  ought  to  be  "consulted,"  few 
persons  in  those  days  of  imperfect  communication  had  a  very  clear 
idea  what  or  where  those  authorities  might  be. 

Still,  as  the  gentle  reader  in  all  ages  craved  for  personal  and 
domestic  details,  these  had  often  to  be  supplied  either  from  a  tradi- 
tional store  of  anecdotes,  or  out  of  the  writer's  own  head.  Hence 
the  large  space  occupied  by  Jiegation  in  the  best  and  most  authorita- 
tive modern  histories. 

Half  the  characteristics  of  the  most  famous  personages  of  preceding 
generations,  as  we  learnt  them  in  our  youth,  have  now  to  be  re- 
modelled or  cast  aside.  For  we  are  not  only  daily  discovering  new 
sources,  new  archives,  rescuing  priceless  family  papers,  hitherto  latent, 
in  lofts,  from  the  perusal  of  "  opici  mures,"  cataloguing  imperfectly 
examined  volumes,  and  arranging  neglected  libraries,  but  daily  cor- 
recting the  errors  and  imperfections  of  the  vast  mass  of  older  literature 
which  (sometimes  because  it  is  so  much  better  written)  we  still  find 
it  difficult  not  to  read. 

Thus  even  in  an  epitome,^  the  most  wondrous  with  which  we  are 
acquainted  in  an  age  of  handbooks  and  abridgments,  we  are  obliged 
to  be  told  that  Otto  H.  never  fought  at  Basentello,  nor  Lucullus  at 
Artaxata,  that  Cleon  was  not  a  tanner,  but  a  capitalist  and  owner  of 
factones  (this  sounds  rather  too  much  like  a  modern  political 
"  explanation  "),  and  that  Sulla  (not  Sylla)  did  mi  die  of  the  so-called 
Phthiriasis.  The  individual  reader  may  be  driven  to  exclaim,  "  I 
never  said  he  did."     It  is  no  matter,  others  have.     And  these  notes 

Professor  Karl  Ploetz's  Epitome  of  History,  Ancient,  Medieval  and  Modern, 
translated  by  Professor  Tillinghast,  of  Harvard,  U.S.A.,  with  a  magnificent 
index,  carries  the  reader  with  perfect  safety  but  almost  terrifying  rapidity,  from  the 
earliest  Pyramids  to  the  new  Japanese  constitution  of  1882  !  An  invaluable  work, 
with  references  to  the  best  modern  authorities. 


154  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

do  not  mean  that  recent  research  has  unearthed  the  private  accounts 
of  "  Cleon  and  Co.,"  or  that  Sulla  (like  the  late  Mr.  Henry  Matthews, 
or  Montaigne  in  Italy)  left  behind  him  the  Diary  of  an  Invalid,  just 
jmnted  at  Oxford  or  Berlin.  It  only  means  that,  owing  to  the 
intellectual  renaissance  aforesaid  of  the  so-called  nineteenth  cen- 
tury (the  hackneyed  phrase  itself  surely  indicates  our  attitude  of 
"  Historic  doubt  "  ?)  we  now  know,  like  Socrates,  that  we  do  not 
know  a  great  deal  which  our  ancestors,  in  the  dark  ages  and  even  the 
last  generation,  believed  with  scarcely  an  effort. 

But  in  these  more  enlightened  days  all  such  darkness  and 
even  a  good  deal  of  doubt  has  been  chased  away,  and  every  Ge- 
schichtliche  Quelle  rendered  as  accessible  as  possible  to  the  thirsting 
student. 

How  vastly  moreover  is  our  positive  knowledge  increased  by  the 
publication  of  the  "  original  text  unabridged,"  or,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  very  latest  version  of  the  Journal  of  Mr.  Samuel  Pejoys,  almost 
"  unabridged  edition." 

"  We  knew  already,"  writes  a  serious  reviewer  of  the  first  instal- 
ment of  this  work,  which  in  truth  seemed  to  contain  no  new  fact  of 
much  greater  importance  than  this,  "that  on  January  4,  1659-60, 
'  It  snowed  hard  all  the  morning,  and  my  nose  was  much  swelled 
with  cold,'  hit  the  entry  at  the  close  of  the  day  was  wanting.  '  Home, 
and  so  to  bed,  but  much  troubled  ivith  my  nose,  which  was  much 
swelled.^ "  Specialists  in  English  history  then,  who  have  during  fifty 
years  been  tormented  with  doubts  as  to  whether  the  Secretary  of  the 
Admiralty  did  or  did  not  go  to  bed  on  the  evening  of  "January  4 
1659-60,"  may  now  seek  their  respective  couches  in  peace.  Nay, 
they  know  more,  as  much  as  any  courtier  could  have  wished  to  know 
of  the  Grand  Monarque,  that  a  nose  swelled  on  that  eventful  morning 
continued — so  little  change  have  two  centuries  and  a  "  new  style  " 
wrought  in  human  nature — to  trouble  its  methodical  owner  until 
nightfall ! 

Yet  we  have  not  all  the   Diary  of  Mr.  Pepys — of  Mr  Pepys  who 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  155 

occupies  half  a  page  in  telling  us  that  a  man  told  him  nothing  on 
April  7, 1664 — even  yet,  for  though  much  that  is  questionable  has 
been  printed,  '■^certain  grosser  improprieties  have  been  left  out,"  (!) 
and  the  reader  is  still  a  victim  to  the  harassing  anxiety,  pathetically 
referred  to  by  the  reviewer,  that  "  something  is  being  kept  from 
him."  Alas!  many  things;  but  oh  !  how  full  of  hope  and  promise 
for  the  higher  education  of  the  future  is  this  passionate  appetite  for 
a  fulness  of  knowledge.  Or  shall  we  admit  that  even  with  regard 
to  "  complete "  texts,  the  sagacious  maxim  sometimes  holds  good, 
'•*'  Magtics  iiiwio  viaxiiiKZ  sapientice  est  qticedam  ceguo  ant  mo  nescire 
velle  "  ? 

The  general  reader  of  the  nineteenth  century,  among  his  other 
inestimable  advantages,  lives  in  a  very  atmosphere  of  editorial 
comment.  There  is  not  a  great  classic  that  might  not  be  buried 
under  a  mountain  of  works  written  upon  or  round  about  it,  any  one  of 
which  some  expert  or  other  will  generally  assure  the  tyro  that  he 
ought  to  read,  and  with  all  of  which  the  critical  "  authority  "  of  the 
day  must,  we  fear,  be  presumed  to  have  a  "  bowing,"  or  at  least  a 
"  dagger-drawing,"  acquaintance.  Thus  the  popular  exposition  of  even 
the  most  famous  of  highly  intellectual  works  is  apt  to  become  more 
appreciated  than  the  "  original."  But  it  is  not  so  with  the  best  samples 
of  the  **  original  memoir."  As  a  species  of  "  reading,"  this  literature 
stands  by  itself.  It  goeth  down  like  an  oyster,  and  sticketh  in  the 
mind  like  the  scandal  of  which — such  is  human  nature — it  is  so 
largely  composed.  It  has,  indeed,  important  advantages,  not  only 
over  obscurer  "  original  works,"  but  over  the  history  which  is  specially 
addressed  by  moderns  to  moderns. 

In  our  appetite  for  "  private  views  "  of  life,  for  familiar  letters, 
notes,  journals^/  /loc  genus  omne,  is  expressed  a  primaeval  human 
instinct — the  ardent  desire  to  know  the  affairs  of  other  people  as 
distinguished  from  things  which  the  historian  is  anxious  to  tell  us — 
rather  ostentatiously — for  our  good.  And,  mere  curiosity  apart, 
uncorrupted  humanity  retains  a  deep  suspicion  of  all  the  prepared 


156  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

stories,  concocted  explanations,  analogies,  and  apologies  often  dis- 
guised as  histories.  Does  not  Mr.  Thackeray  tell  us  that  he  believed 
no  autobiographies  but  those  of  Robinson  Crusoe,  Mariner,  of  York, 
and  his  kind,  and  that  fiction  (here  spoke  the  novelist)  carried  most 
"  truth  in  solution  "  ?  But  almost  the  earliest  works  of  our  Aryan 
ancestors  were  concocted  with  a  religious  and  political  purpose,  and 
even  modern  historians  sometimes  have  prejudices.  " So,"  it  maybe 
rejoined,  "  has  the  memoir  writer."  Most  true  ;  but  the  prejudices  of 
the  modern  are  too  "  more  than  kin  and  less  than  kind  "  to  our  own 
to  be,  yet,  of  great  interest  to  us.  While,  of  original  writers  (who  are 
not  thinking  about  us)  even  the  contradictions,  as  Bolingbroke  says, 
are  instructive.^  Their  awfullest  lies  convey  more  striking  truth  than 
the  platitudes  of  a  writer  of  our  own  generation.  Moreover,  to  grasp  at 
a  deeper  reason,  man,  even  nineteenth-century  man,  is  by  nature  as 
profoundly  diffident  as  he  is  gregarious.  He  may  "  talk  tall  "  among 
a  dense  population  of  his  contemporaries,  but  the  fact  is  that  just  as 
the  simple-minded  "  masses  "  delight  to  learn,  by  means  of  the  in- 
terviewer, that  their  wealthy,  learned,  and  high-born  contemporaries 
resemble  them  in  divers  otherwise  insignificant  particulars,  so  the 
most  cultured  and  independent  agnostic  of  us  all  is,  in  his  secret 
heart,  vastly  reassured  by  the  knowledge  that  Charlemagne  took"  an 
1  apple  and  a  glass  of  water  and  went  to  sleep  after  luncheon  ;  or  that 
'  Petrarch  walked  about  the  streets  of  Avignon  in  painfully  tight  boots, 
I  fearing  lest  the  wind  should  blow  his  hair  out  of  curl.'-^  We  like  to 
'know  that  other  people  are  not  really  different  from,  nor  {sotto 
voce,  be  it   said)   much   better   than,   ourselves ,   and  the   detailed 

^  Bolingbroke's  notes  On  the  Study  and  Use  of  History  (8vo,  Cadell,  1779), 
which  also  embrace  a  valuable  memoir  of  his  time,  have,  one  is  glad  to  see,  been 
recently  reprinted  in  a  cheap  pocket  edition. 

-  The  Abbe  de  Sade's  "  copious,  original,  and  entertaining"  Ah'tnoires  p.  s.  a 
la  Vie  de  F.  PHrarque  (3  vols.  4to,  Amst.  1764),  so  freely  utilized  by  Gibbon,  is 
an  old-fashioned  labour  of  love,  and  genealogical  pride  (though  the  portrait  of  Dr. 
Sade's  ancestress,  Laura  is  not  such  as  to  rouse  admiration),  collecting  a  mass  of 
original  matter  to  which  he  should  have  added  an  index. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  157 

evidences  of  these  simple  truths  are  just  what  the  memoir-writer 
preserves  for  us,  whether  he  writes  about  himself  or  about  other 
people. 

The  memoir,  again,  as  distinguished  from  the  history,  which  is  the 
sublimated  essence  of  all  such  Quelle7i,  gives  us,  when  judiciously 
studied,  what  lawyers  call  a  case-knowledge  of  history,  a  thing  different 
in  kind  from  the  grasp  of  "general  principles,"  but  within  its  range 
more  satisfying  and  reliable.  Take,  for  instance,  an  original  1ei;tpr — 
and  letters  (not  letters  like  those  in  which  Mrs.  Chapone  strove  to 
form  the  character  of  the  "  young  person  ")  are  often  but  a  detached 
and  more  instantaneous  variety  of  memoir— -take  several  typical 
examples  which  chance  to  be  at  hand,— the  Emperor  Julian's  angry 
mandate  for  the  exile  of  St.  Athanasiusj^  Charles  IX.'s  official  explana- 
tion of  the  ''regrettable  "  events  of  August  24th,  1572  j^  Montesquieu's 
passing  remark  on  the  decay  of  Spanish  and  the  growth  of  British 
empire  ;^  Maximilian  the  Great's  confidential  and  ungrammatical  com- 
munication to  Margaret  of  Austria,  announcing  his  intention  to 
reform,  and,  if  he  could  raise  the  necessary  funds,  run  for  the 
Papacy  ;  *  Theodore  Beza's  instinctive  apology  for  the  destruction  of  a 

^  Juliani  Impetatoris  Opera,  8vo,  Parisiis,  1583,  p.  157. 

"^  Appended,  with  other  documents,  to  Hotman's  account  of  the  massacre  (see 
p.  44).  A  propos  of  the  same  episode,  it  is  in  the  Letters  of  the  famous  Cardinal 
d'Ossat  (p.  687  of  the  8vo  ed.,  Paris,  1627)  that  we  find  recorded  the  historically 
invaUiable  remark  of  Cardinal  Alessandrino — on  hearing  the  news  of  the  massacre 
— '*  Loti^  soil  Dieu,  le  Roy  de  France  m'a  tenti  promesse  !" 

^  "  Que  dites  vous  des  Anglois  ?  ....  c'est  une  grande  baleine  : 
'  Et  latum  sub  pectore  possidet  aequor.' 
La  Reine  d'Espagne  a  appris  a  Europe  un  grand  secret,  c'est  que,/<?5  Iiidcs  qiion 
croyoit  attaMes  a  PEspagne  par  cent  inille  chatnes,  ne  tiennent  qii'h  un  fil.'''' — 
Montesquieu,  Z^^^r^j/awj/itV^j  (ed.  pari' Abbe  deGuasco).   8vo.   Florence.    1767. 
P.  15  (Mar.  6,  1740),  and  see  p.  134. 

In  another  passage,  the  author  of  the  Esprit  des  Lois  refers  in  a  light-hearted 
manner  to  the  improbability  of  kings  reading  his  book,  which  Voltaire,  he  tells  us, 
*'  was  too  clever  to  understand." 

*  Lettres  et  Mimoires  de  Louis  XII.  &c.  &c.  Ed.  Godefroy.  4  vols.  8vo. 
1712.     (IV.) 


158  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

heretic,  "  exustus  est  sane,  sed  sero  "  ^ ;  or  the  picture  of  a  very  pretty 
Hterary  quarrel,  handed  down  by  the  Cavalier  Marino.^  Do  not 
these  photograph  for  us  with  inimitable  effect,  an  attitude,  an  at- 
mosphere, a  stage  of  civilisation,  a  striking  scene  never  more  to  be 
recalled,  and  only  now  realisable  through  that  wondrous  telescope-^ 
the  printed  book  ? 

The  memoir  is  of  course  not  to  be  too  nicely  distinguished  from  the 
history.  The  "Memoirs  "  of  Philip  de  Comines  range  from  intimate 
personality  to  the  profoundest  diplomacy  of  the  time.  Duclos's 
invaluable  Memoires  Secrets  siir  les  Regfies  de  Louis  XIV.  et  XV. 
(library  edition,  2  vols.  1791)  represent  rather  the  collected  notes 
and  reflections  of  a  serious  historian  upon  the  fearfully  interesting 
period  during  which  ripened  and  matured  "the  red  fruit  of  an  old 
idolatry." 

The  genuine  memoir  is  intensely,  if  not  grossly,  personal,  and  does 
not  aspire  to  the  "dignity  of  history."  But  what  is  the  "dignity  of 
history  "  ?  The  late  Mr.  Charles  Kingsley  thought  it  could  not  be 
denied  to  his  account  of  the  poaching  affray  in  Yeast  (itself  a  fictitious 
memoir  carrying  a  good  deal  of  "  truth  in  solution  ")  by  "any  gentle- 
man who  had  had  his  head  among  the  gunstocks  for  a  few  minutes." 
If  not,  one  felt  that  one  could  get  on  without  it.  The  early  chronicler 
did,  and,  since  his  chronicle  is  also  as  often  as  not  a  memoir,  must 
here  have  a  kindly  word.  In  ages  when  the  flame  of  thought  burned 
but  dimly,  and  writing  for  pleasure  was  apparently  unknown,  we  owe 
all  that  we  have  to  this  well-meaning  and  laborious  person.  He  has 
been  lightly  accused  of  a  "  crude  voracity  for  fact  "  because  forsooth 
he  has  not  always  nicely  weighed  the  proportionate  interest  of  a  com- 
plicated political  crisis  and  the  alleged  birth  in  some  remote  county 
of  a  puppy  with  three  heads,  or  because  the  Saxon  chronicle  sums 
up  the  national  affairs  of  a  twelvemonth  long  preceding  what  is  known 

^  Epistolarttm   Thcologicaritvi,  Liber  wins.     Genevan,  8vo,  1573,  p.  10.      This 
is  a  rare  and  interesting  volume. 

'^  Letlerc  gravi  argttte  efaniiliari,  l2mo,  1673. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  159 

as  "the  Oxford  Movement"  in  the  brief  and  pithy  sentence — "No 
one  went  to  Rome  this  year,"^  A  more  serious  charge  is  the  heavy 
burden  that  lay  upon  these  our  first  historians  of  "  totalling  up  "  in  a 
lengthy  compendium  all  that  they  believed  to  have  happened  from 
the  creation  to  the  beginning  of  their  own  experience.  The  estimable 
Gregory  of  Tours  has  indeed  given  us  a  unique  and  priceless  picture 
of  the  Merovingian  courts,  but  why  did  the  Bishop,  unlike  our  own 
Venerable  Bede,  stuff  his  precious  little  volume  with  so  much  thatwould 
have  been  better  included  in  one  of  his  hagiological  works  ?  Sanguin- 
ary and  horrible  anecdotes,  too,  are  their  bane.  Saxo  the  grammarian 
(who  did  not,  as  the  eminent  Shakespeare-Bacon  controversialist  sup- 
posed, write  in  Danish  !),  however  he  may  fall  short  of  historic  "  dig- 
nity," leaves  us  in  no  doubt  as  to  how  the  Prince  of  Denmark  (Amloda 
— the  madman,  or  Amleth,  as  the  chronicler  calls  him, though  "we," 
as  Mr.  Podsnap  would  explain  " say  77ifzw/(f/',"  putting  the  "h"  at 
the  other  end)  disposed  of  the  hnf^  oL  Pnlnnint;  It  was  given  to 
the  pjgs;  but  that  is  another,  and  a  painfully  mediaeval,  story.- 
Let  us   begin   at   the   beginning.      Has  any   one  yet   published   a 

^  On  looking  back  to  this  entry  I  find  that  I  had  slightly  underrated  its  import- 
ance. The  full  text  is  ^^  An.  889.  This  year  no  one  went  to  Rome,  except  two 
couriers  ivhom  King  Alfred  sent  with  letters  (!)." — Chronicon  Saxonicum.  Ed. 
Gibson,  410,  1692,  p.  90. 

Severe  weather  distinguishing  any  particular  year  is  constantly  noted  by  the 
early  annalists  :  and  a  liberal  amount  of  space,  as  we  should  expect,  is  usually 
given  to  remarkable  phenomena  of  natural  or  supernatural  history.  See  the  enter- 
taining account  given  by  Matthew  Paris — the  best  and  most  instnictive  of  our 
chroniclers — of  a  tremendous  and  unheard-of  conflict  between  whales  and  other 
marine  monsters  on  the  east  coast  (a«.  1240),  where  eleven  huge  dead  carcases 
were  cast  up  by  the  sea."  Finally  an  enormous  whale  made  up  the  Thames 
estuary,  and  with  difficulty  got  between  the  piles  of  London  Bridge.  It  was 
pursued  by  a  large  number  of  sailors  in  boats  as  far  as  a  certain  "manerium  Regis 
quod  Mortclac  dicitur,"  where  there  was  an  exciting  finish,  and  the  monster 
was  killed  with  some  difficulty.  A  minor  poet  of  the  day  wrote  a  jocose  epigram  on 
the  subject  in  Leonine  verse.     Matt.  Paris,  Historia  Major.,    ol.  1 57 1,  p.  733. 

-  Saxonis  Graiumatici  Historia  Danica.  Ed.  Miiller  und  Velschow  (a  superbly 
printed  edition),  4to,  Hafnia;,  1839,  p.  138,  et  scq. 


i6o  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

list  of  the  "  best  hundred  books "   of  the  kind  we  are  here  con- 
sidering  ? 

The  deservedly  respected,  if  occasionally  tiresome,  Xenophon^  would 
appear  to  be  one  of  the  first  of  European  memoir  writers.  Soldier, 
sportsman,  and  litterateur,  his  writings  include  all  interests  military, 
social,  and  political.  In  his  Memorabilia  he  plays  the  part  of  a 
more  dignified  Boswell  to  the  greatest  man  of  his  age,  the  martyred 
philosopher  by  whose  side  he  fought  at  the  Battle  of  DeHum  in  424 
B.C. ;  and  his  only  too  well-known  Anabasis — for  all  its  monotonous 
breakfasts  and  "  parasangs  " —  can  only  be  compared  to  the  accounts^ 
by  La  Baume  or  Sdgur  of  the  more  disastrous  Napoleonic  retreat 
from  Moscow.2  Julius  Caesar's  memoirs  of  his  own  campaigns  were, 
we  know,  the  favourite  reading  of  the  French  Emperor,  and  the  com- 
mentaries of  both  monarchs  are  unreliable,  where  they  are  so,  for 
very  similar  reasons,  since,  as  a  sage  critic  has  remarked,  ^Jcnpw- 
ledge_o£the  -truth  does  not  always  jniply  a  desire.io  lell  it.  To  omit 
classic  historians  who  have  been  the  model  of  all  subsequent  ages, 
the  Lives  of  Emperors  hy  Suetonius  (68 — 116  a.d.)  form  a  series 
of  priceless  historical  cameos  the  suppression  of  which  would 
certainly  have  left  human  nature  higher  than  it  now  stands  in  public 
estimation.  The  letters  of  the  younger  Pliny  (belonging  to  the  same 
period)  supply,  quite  incidentally,  unique  materials  to  history.    In 

^  Thucydides  is,  of  course,  the  prototype  of  the  dignified  historian.  In  Herodotus, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  is  more  of  the  digressive  story-loving  Frossardian 
chronicle,  and  of  the  true  "Memoir  of  my  Life  and  Times."  "Imagine,"  says 
a  modern  French  historian,  "  Marco  Polo,  Joinville,  and  the  Arabian  Nights  mixed 
up  and  thrown  into  the  form  of  a  prose  Odyssey,  and  you  have  the  History  of 
Herodotus." 

*  Eugene  La  Baume  (whose  account  is  less  known  than  that  of  Segur)  appears 
in  his  preface  {Relation  Compute  de  la  Campagne  de  Russia,  &c.  6me  ed.  corrigee 
«Sic.,  Paris,  1820)  as  quite  the  ideal  f£7«/^;;;/^;'a;7  memoir-writer.  His  record  of 
events  was  written  up,  he  tells  us,  day  by  day  ;  the  knife  that  helped  him  to  his 
horse-flesh  dinner  served  also  to  cut  his  crowquill  pens.  The  sack  of  Moscow  he 
described  by  the  light  of  the  conflagration,  and  for  ink  and  inkstand  he  had  often 
but  a  handj'ul  of  gunpowder  mixed  with  snow  water  I 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  i6i 

the  well-known  letter  in  the  tenth  book,  Secundus  writes  to  Trajan 
of  the  early  Christians  (from  Bithynia  late  in  112  a.d.)  much  as  an 
Eastbourne  magistrate  might  communicate  with  the  Home  Secretary 
on  the  subject  of  the  "  Salvation  Army."  ^  And  as  an  intimate  and 
finished  personal  record  these  letters  surpass  anything  in  Latin 
literature.  Interspersed  with  every  variety  of  detail  of  common  life, 
social,  professional,  and  even  sporting  ("we  shall  laugh,"  he  thinks, 
"  to  hear  that  he  has  killed  three  wild  boars  ;"  and  so  we  do),  with 
capital  stories  told  with  equal  gusto  and  good  temper,  they  give  us 
the  whole  tone  of  a  civilisation,  the  standard  of  its  morality  (Pliny's 
slaves  we  may  be  sure  were  better  off  than  many  servants  in  the 
eighteenth  century),  and  in  fine  the  picture  of  an  age  surprisingly  like 
our  own,  when  post-horses  were  a  government  monopoly  (as  they 
are  still  in  the  "  Playground  of  Europe "),  and  fire  brigades  were 
regarded  in  the  light  of  dangerous  political  associations,  as  they 
quite  recently  were  in  the  United  States.^ 

We  are  not  forgetting  Cicero,  the  greatest  writer  of  the  greatest 
age  in  Roman  history,  of  which  his  long  series  of  Epistol(B  ad 
Familiares  (sometimes  miscalled  EpistolcE  familiares)  and  others^ 
should  have  provided  us  with  the  most  complete  and  intimate  picture. 
It  was  M.  Philarete  Chasles  ^  who  first  discovered  Cicero  to  be  an 
•'  overrated  man."  Ought  we  to  regret  that  a  man  so  refined,  so  want- 
ing in  brute  courage,  lived  in  an  age  when  decision  of  character  was  so 

^  The  history  of  the  MS.  of  Pliny's  celebrated  letter  is  very  remarkable.  Dis- 
covered at  Paris  in  1500,  used  by  several  persons  and  then  lost  (apparently  in 
Italy)  in  1508,  it  has  never  been  seen  since.  V.  Professor  Ramsay's  Church  in 
the  Roman  Empire.     1894.     Ch.  x.,  note. 

^  A  good  example,  perhaps,  of  history  repeating  itself,  see  Nichols,  Forty  Years 
of  American  Life  (the  author's  own  time).  Longmans,  1874,  p.  312.  "This 
position  (that  of  the  Irish  '  boss '  of  a  volunteer  fire  company)  as  leader  of 
a  hundred  rough  and  ready  young  men  was  not  without  its  influence.  They  all 
had  votes  ;  and  in  case  of  need  could  vote  more  than  once.  What  was  more 
important  they  could  show  fight,  and  keep  others  from  voting." 

'  Etudes  sur  V Antiquity  .  .  et  sur  les  phases  de  Thist.  littiraire  (a  most 
entertaining  miscellany),  Paris,  1847. 

M 


l62  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

imperiously  necessary,  and  when  to  be  decided  meant,  most  probably, 
to  be  unscrupulous?  "Political  exigencies"  such  as  that  which 
rendered  the  greatest  of  orators  so  ready  to  become  the  ally  of 
Catiline  and  to  defend  the  latter  against  his  own  charges  of  *'  rapine 
and  plunder  "  might  have  pursued  the  painfully  self-conscious,  the 
"verbose  and  sophistical"  rhetorician  even  into  our  own  peace- 
ful days.  It  is  inevitably  matter  of  regret  that  his  vanity,  his  acute 
sense  of  his  own  merits  and  of  his  own  sufferings  prevented  him  see- 
ing clearly  even  all  that  was  going  on  around  him ;  and  that  he  was 
more  grieved,  as  M.  Chasles  complains,  by  the  loss  of  a  Greek  curio 
than  by  the  death  of  his  bourgeois  father. 

But  let  us  rather  be  thankful  for  what  we  have,  for  these  inevitable 
confidential  effusions  of  a  cultivated  gentleman,  fallen  among  a 
generation  of  brigands  and  cut-throats,  of  a  humanely  sociable  man 
torn  this  way  and  that  by  human  ambitions  and  human  weaknesses, 
for  these  confessions  ranging  from  the  highest  to  the  meanest  of 
human  interests,  nor  regret  that  the  self-revelation,  always  interest- 
ing and  often  absorbing  is  now  and  then  so  acutely  pathetic. 

If  a  great,  a  strong  man  would  never  have  confided  to  us  his 
vacillations  between  heroism  and  chicanery,  his  half-hearted  decision 
at  a  very  critical  moment,  to  make  friends  with  Caesar,  in  order  to 
make  him  less  dangerous  {si  eum  mitiorem  reddo  .  .  num  obsum  1 ) 
let  us  remember  that  a  great  and  strong  man  would  have  perhaps 
left  us  nothing  more  expansive,  nothing  more  satisfying  to  human 
curiosity  than — Caesar's  Commentaries. 

And  the  "  First  Napoleon  "  {pace  Dr.  Mommsen),  did  he  smile  to 
himself  when  the  greatest,  or  at  least  the  most  eloquent  statesman  of 
the  day  addressed  him,  in  one  of  those  eloquent  letters,  as  his 
"second  self"?  When  he  returned  Cicero's  verses  with  the  com- 
plimentary assurance  that  he  "  had  never  read  anything  finer  in 
Greek,"  was  he  aware  that  the  effusive  litterateur  who  strove  so 
hard  to  oppose  "arms  with  words,"  described  him  alternately  as 
a  "  d d  brigand  "  {perditus  latro)  and  "  the  noblest  and  best  of 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  163 

men,"  according  to  the  fluctuations  of  that  epidemic  of  the  day,  the 
ierrores  CcBsariani  ?  An  answer  may  be  conjectured  from  the  few 
words  of  his  dropped  about  the  pages  of  this  voluminous  corre- 
spondence. 

But  whatever  the  agonising  exigencies  of  the  greatest  crisis  in  the 
world's  history  made  it  advisable  or  inevitable  for  the  man  of  words 
to  express,  from  the  proudest  and  vainest  exultation  to  the  bitterest 
remorse  and  despair,  how  perfect  throughout  is  the  wondrous  style, 
— the  model  of  all  subsequent  generations — lucid,  racy,  fluent,  never 
deranged,  and  if  .'sometimes  condensed  {hreviloquentem  me  tempus 
ipsuni  facit)  by  the  acutest  suffering,  consoling  itself  in  the  torments 
of  anxiety  by  a  line  or  two  from  Homer,  and  when  most  panic- 
stricken  by  the  Napoleonic  celerity  of  Caesar,  finding  time  to  discuss 
in  a  Greek  exercise  the  question  whether  a  patriot  might  or  might 
not  desert  his  country  when  under  the  heel  of  a  despot !  .  .  .  . 

For  several  centuries  after  the  classic  age,  there  is  a  plentiful 
lack  of  communicative  and  confidential  literature.  Not  that  such 
epithets  are  inapplicable,  for  example,  to  the  miscellanies  of 
Aulus  Gellius  (143),  or  Macrobius  {ob.  420).  But  these  classical 
and  justly  popular  works,  if  not  absolutely  devoid  of  contemporary 
anecdote  and  history,^  draw  most  of  their  subject-matter  from 
earlier  original  sources.  The  horny  Latin  of  Sidonius  Apollinaris 
{436-488  A.D.)  which  it  is  yet  a  pleasure  to  read  in  Sirmond's 
splendid  library  edition  (4to,  1652),  conceals  much  interesting 
details  of  Saxon  pirates  and  country  life  of  Gaul  in  the  fifth 
century  when,  after  all,  men  studied,  hunted,  dallied  with  classics  in 
the  library,  and  dined  sharp  by  the  clepsydra  quite  unconscious  that 
they  lived  in  one  of  the  "dark  ages."     Such  darkness  is,  however, 

^  Such  e.g.  as  the  story  told  by  Gellius  of  the  two  grammarians  he  left  arguing 
{Nodes  Attica  xiv. )  about  the  vocative  case  of  egregius.  Macrobius  tells  some 
good  stories  of  the  wit  of  Augustus  and  other  persons,  mostly  at  second  or  third 
hand.  Both  the  Nodes  and  the  Saturnalia  (which  borrows  a  good  deal  from  it) 
are  chiefly  literary  and  critical.  Of  the  first  there  is  a  good  Elzevir  (1651)  and  of 
the  latter  a  particularly  fine  "  Variorum  "  ed.  Lugd.  Bat.  1670. 

M    2 


l64  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

especially  among  the  ruins  of  the  Western  Empire,  none  the  less 
real.  The  curious  and  sociable  reader  wanders  about  in  its  gloomy 
shades  finding  scarce  a  "  soul "  to  talk  to  but  fierce  ascetics  denounc- 
ing the  world,  and  the  flesh,  and  pious  monks  prattling  of  Blessed 
Martin's  miracles,  or  the  absurd  conceit  of  the  Donatists.^ 

^  See  for  example  the  correspondence  of  Nilus,  an  Eremite  of  Mount  Sinai  and 
pupil  of  St.  Chrysostom,  edited  in  a  sumptuous  quarto  by  Pierre  Possin,  Jesuit  (Gr.  - 
Lat.  Paris,  1657).  In  these  kxcubrations  (see  Ep.  48)  asceticism  is  almost  carried 
to  the  point  of  a  preference  for  temptation  and  misjery.  If  such  letters  are  almost 
devoid,  vulgarly  speaking,  of  human  interest,  they  show  a  far  more  intimate  know- 
ledge of  the  habits  and  principles  of  the  Evil  One  than  was  ever  attained  by  his 
pretentious  biographers  of  later  times.  On  the  other  hand  Sulpicius  Severus  (who 
died  about  4 10  A.  D. )  is  a  charming  writer  of  gentle  and  humane  sensibilities.    See  his 


From  title-page  of  Delibatio  Hist.  Africance  Ecclesiasticte.    Parisiis  ap.  Mich.  Sonnium, 
sub  scuto  Basiliensi,  via  Jacobaea.     1569. 

Opera{Life  of  the  Blessed  Martin,  &c.).  8vo.  Elzevir.  1665.  Synesius,  the  sporting 
Bishop,  is  known  to  every  reader  of  Hypatia,  and  his  letters  (Paris,  i6p5)  deal 
as  much  with  weddings,  funerals,  worthless  servants,  and  valuable  horses,  as 
might  the  memoirs  of  a  modern  Dean  of  good  family.  As  to  the  Donatists,  let 
us  recommend  to  the  reader  a  delightful  little  volume  published  by  Sonnius  at 
Paris  in  1569,  entitled  Delibatio  Historice  Africans;,  and  containing  the  celebrated 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  165 

The  materials  for  history,  even  of  private  life,  are  not  perhaps  so 
very  deficient  in  the  third,  and  still  less  in  the  fourth  century,  a.d., 
but  their  unearthing  requires  more  varied  research.  We  turn  of 
course  in  the  first  instance,  to  professed  historians  such  as  Ammianus 
Marcellinus  (320-390),  and  the  minor  authors  collected  under  the 
title  of  "  Augustan  "  writers.  But  poetry,  panegyric,  and  religious 
controversy  (not  too  rigidly  confined  to  their  own  subject-matters) 
disguise,  in  these  ages  of  the  world,  matters  of  more  real  human 
interest.  Thus  the  eight  books  of  Salvianus  of  Marseilles  (390-484) 
De  Gubernatione  Dei,  consist  largely  of  indignant  diatribes  on  the 
•corrupt  civilisation  of  the  great  cities  of  the  Empire. 

Poetry,  the  reader  might  naturally  be  tempted  to  study  for  its 
own  sake — Ausonius,  Prudentius,  and  above  all  Claudian,  from 
whom  Mr.  Bryce  borrows  those  few  eloquent  lines  {Ode  on  Stilichds 
Second  Consulship,  v.  129)  which  paint  the  imperial  feeling  of  the 
day,  almost  as  well  as  Dante's  famous  letter  ^  does  for  a  period  nine 
hundred  years  later. 

Cecilius,  author  of  that  curious  memoir  On  the  DeatJis  (not  to 

■works  of  Optatus  (,ob.  384)  and  of  Victor  of  Utica  (pb.  c.  487)  upon  the  religious 
■controversies  and  the  persecutions  of  the  time. 

A  propos  of  such  early  collections  of  contemporary  chronicles  and  memoirs,  one 
of  the  best  and  most  useful,  a  little  volume  rarely  to  be  found,  and  well  worth  a 
few  francs,  is  the  Annaliuin  ^  Histories  Francorum  Script  ores  coetanei  XII,  \l 
&c.  ex  Bibliotheca  P.  PithEei.  8vo.  Francofurti.  1594.  This  contains  a  most 
■valuable  selection  of  records  from  the  eighth  to  the  tenth  century,  several  im- 
portant accounts  of  the  life  and  coronation  of  Charles  the  Great,  Abbo  Levita's 
metrical  history  of  the  Siege  of  Paris  by  the  Northmen  in  886,  and  the  chronicle 
of  Nithard  containing  (p.i473)the  well-known  forms  of  oath  sworn  (842  A.D. )  by 
Ia«ui&.  of  France  and  Qwftfe  of  Germany  respectively,  which  supply  such  in- 
valuable specimens  of  the  nascent  French  and  German  languages.  "Annales 
Francorum  Pit/uci"  says  a  redoubtable  critic,  " /^  bon  livre,  %i\o\x%\oytz  le 
mien  vous  verriez  comme  je  I'ay  manie." — Scaligerana,  p.  266. 

^  See  Epistole  edite  e  inedite  di  Dante  Alighieri,  edited,  with  the  treatise  "  Dell' 
Acqua  e  delta  TVrm "  by  Alessandro  Torri.  8vo.  Livorno.  1842  (an  edition  not 
to  be  found  in  the  British  Museum,  1894). 


i66  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS," 

mention  the  abominable  and  wicked  lives)  of  Persecutors^  (the  com- 
pleteness of  which  is  secured  by  the  omission  of  persecutors  who 
didn't  die),  and  Libanius,  the  eloquent  orator,  and  popular  lecturer, 
contribute,  in  spite  of  much  dull  and  formal  waste  of  words,  to 
make  real  for  us  certain  societies  and  individuals.  Among  early 
letter-writers,  and  from  our  present  point  of  view,  a  respectable  place 
must  be  given  to  Quintus  Aurelius  Symmachus,  the  contemporary 
of  Augustine,  Jerome  and  Ambrosius,  Prefect  of  Rome,  and  last  of 
the  professed  defenders  of  Paganism.  The  ten  books  of  Symmachus, 
whose  contemporaries  regarded  him  and  who  seems  to  have  regarded 
himself  as  a  second  Pliny,  were  reprinted  and  still  circulated  in  an 
attractive  Elzevir  edition,  i2mo,  1653. 

The  first  great  "  Secret  History,"  prototype  of  so  many  a  sup- 
pressed or  unpublished  "original  authority,"  appeared,  as  we  might 
expect,  at  the  great  centre  of  civilisation  in  the  sixth  century,  Con- 
stantinople, and  remains,  as  every  reader  of  The  Decline  and  Fall 
is  aware,  about  the  most  astonishing  memoir  ever  given,  even  by 
private  circulation,  to  a  shocked  and  delighted  public.  This  work 
known  as  the  Arcana  Hjstoria,  or  Anecdotes,  of  Procopius  might  well 
have  been  called  "The  Scandalous  Chronicle  of  Justinian  and 
Theodora,"  the  celebrated  Emperor  and  Empress  whom  it  has 
branded  with  something  like  eternal  ridicule  and  infamy.  Procopius 
of  Csesarea  (who  was  secretary  to  the  ill-fated  Belisarius,  and  died  in 
the  same  year  as  Justinian,  565  a.d.)  had  published  a  whole  series 
of  historical  works  treating  in  a  complimentary,  nay,  flattering  style, 
the  military  and  civil  achievements  of  the  world-renowned  law- 
giver, but  it  was  known  that  there  existed  or  had  existed  an  import- 
ant supplement  to  these  in  the  form  of  a  secret  history.  Baronius, 
in  his  Ecclesiastical  Annals^  regrets  its  loss,  but  the  manuscript  was 

^  Liber  de  Mortibus  Persecutorum,  hactenus  Lactantio  ascriphis,  with  facsimile 
of  MS. — another  excellent  "  Variorum  "  ed.  8vo.  Parisiis.  17 10.  For  citations 
from  the  interesting  works  of  Libanius  (314-390  h.ii.)  De  vitd  sud  and  Pro  templis 
an  appeal  against  Christian  persecution)  see  Lecky's  Hist,  of  Ratioitalism,  vol,  ii. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  <«  MEMOIRS."  167 

then  actually  lying  on  the  shelygs^  the  Vatican  library  of  which  the 
annalist  himself  had  charge,  and  was  first  published  some  years  after 
his  death  {Lugduni,  fol.  1623).  Our  own  copy  of  this  fine  edition,^ 
edited  by  the  learned  Nicolo  Alemanni,  belonged  to  Alexander 
Boswell,  who  bought  it  at  Paris  in  1729  for  ;£^.  The  printer's 
device  is,  by  a  curious  coincidence,  an  immense  rising  sun. 

No  sun  that  ever  rose  diffused  a  more  startling  light  upon  imperial 
affairs  than  this  work.  "  The  Anecdota  of  Procopius,  compared  with 
the  former  works  of  the  same  author,  appears,"  to  one  of  Gibbon's 
latest  editors,  "  the  basest  and  most  disgraceful  work  in  literature." 
But  the  horrified  reader  can  hardly  repress  a  smile,  so  complete  is  the 
dichotomy  of  the  author. 

The  "  glorious  wars  "  (of  the  history  circulated  under  the  august 
nose  of  Justinian)  here  become  "useless  and  wanton  massacres." 
The  "  buildings  "  so  belauded  as  monuments  of  the  great  emperor  and 
his  admirable  queen  become  works  of  vain  prodigality  and  useless 
ostentation.  "  I  doubt,"  concludes  Dean  Milman,  "  whether  Gibbon 
has  made  sufficient  allowance  for  the  malignity  of  the  Anecdota."  - 
But  although  it  may  be  literally  true  that  the  appalling  profligacy  of 
Theodora's  early  life  "rests  entirely  on  this  virulent  libel,"  and 
although  the  scoflRng  Gibbon  is  certainly  prone  to  think  evil,  there 
is  really  no  evidence  to  answer  an  author  who,  whatever  his  motives, 
was  clearly  himself  acquainted  with  a  generation  of  which  hardly  any 
"  libel  "  can  be  accounted  incredible.  Assuming  so  much,  even  if  the 
author  of  the  Anecdota  writes  now  and  then  in  a  tone  of  passion, 
does  that  much  affect  his  credit  ?  There  were  facts  of  which,  we  can 
well  believe,  he  could  not  have  survived  the  publication,  and  which 

^  Purchased  for  2s.  6d. ,  which  shows  that  not  all  "first  editions"  continue  to  rise  in 
price.  Engravings  of  a  medal,  and  a  portrait  of  Theodora  will  be  found  in  the  notes. 
Alemanni  (see  note  in  TAe  Decline  and  Fall)  expurgated  a  few  lines  of  the  text. 

2  The  editors  of  Gibbon,  however,  do  not  suggest,  as  at  least  one  eminent 
historian  has  since  suggested,  that  the  work  is  a  (contemporary)  forgery,  which 
however,  it  is  admitted,  would  little  affect  its  credit  as  an  account  of  social 
(and  theatrical)  manners. 


1 68  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

yet  deserved,  as  he  tells  us,  to  be  recorded,  for  the  instruction  and 
warning  of  all  future  tyrants.  The  anecdotist,  with  whom  the 
cynical  historian  chuckles  up  and  down  his  scandal-laden  page, 
accordingly  proceeds  to  tell  us  among  infinitely  more  shocking 
things  that  Justinian  was  a  "  stupid  ass  "  whose  silliness  was  only 
equalled  by  his  wickedness.  He  represents  the  great  lawgiver  and  his 
consort,  "  Daemonodora,"  as  "  two  fiends  who  had  assumed  human 
form  for  the  destruction  of  mankind," — which  is  very  much  the  sort  of 
thing  that  Shelley  felt  and  wrote  about  Lord  Castlereagh.  At  the 
same  time  he  has  the  fairness — or,  must  we  say  the  malevolence  ? — to 
mention  that  the  renowned  jurisconsult  (and  atheist)  Tribonian 
when  sitting  on  the  bench  at  the  emperor's  side  expressed  the 
gravest  anxiety  lest  his  imperial  colleague  "  should  be  snatched  up  to 
Heaven  without  a  moment's  warning,  on  account  of  his  unique  piety  !  " 

Both  the  above  estimates  of  the  great  lawgiver  cannot  be  correct, 
and  if  imperial  courtiers  were  in  the  habit  of  saying  that  sort  of 
thing,  we  can  hardly  wonder  at  a  few  exaggerations  on  the  other  side. 
The  author,  even  when  recounting  that  a  monk  once  observed  Satan 
himself  in  the  likeness  of  Justinian,  occupying  the  imperial  throne — 
assures  us  that  he  and  his  friends  quite  believed  this  and  all  the 
other  stories.  If  so,  one  can  only  say  that  (whether  we  believe 
them  or  not)  he  was  quite  right  in  committing  his  impressions  to 
paper.     In  one  way  or  another  they  cannot  fail  to  be  instructive. 

Fortunately  for  poor  human  nature,  the  best  as  well  as  the  worst  of 
monarchs  have  had  attentive  biographers. 

The  faithful  Eginhart,  whose  plain  unvarnished  tale  of  the  disastrous 
retreat  from  Roncesvalles  (celebrated  from  the  opposite  point  of  view 
in  one  of  the  most  ancient  Basque  ballads),^  is  the  kernel  of  all  the 

^  See  Fr.  Michel,  Le  Pays  Basque,  1857  ("  rare,  20  fr."  Claitdin),  where  the  text 
(in  which  many  intelligible  Romance  words  occur)  and  a  French  translation  are 
given  (p.  233).  The  famous  Historia  Caroli  Magni,  long  attributed  to  Arch- 
bishop Turpin,  or  Tylpin  [pb.  753)  is  now  discerned  to  be  a  composition  of  the 
eleventh  or  twelfth  century. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  169 

elaborate  fictions  which  afterwards  clustered  round  the  name  of 
Roland,  did  for  the  founder  of  the  "  Holy  Roman  Empire  "  what 
Asser,  the  Bishop  of  Sherborne,  did  for  the  first  maker  of  England. 
The  well-known  anecdotes  of  the  Great  Alfred's  proficiency  in 
reading  and  indifferent  cooking  rest  upon  this  contemporary  authority, 
whose  name,  with  that  of  Camden,  is  also  associated  with  an  ancient 
controversy,  which  we  cannot  here  discuss,  as  to  the  date  of  the 
foundation  of  the  University  of  Oxford.^ 

Nevertheless  the  French  texts  recently  published  by  Wulff  (4to.  Lund.  t88i) 
are  perhaps  the  most  fascinating  and  excited  pieces  of  ancient  prose  in  the 
language.  As  the  book  is  not  on  every  library  table,  we  here  offer  the  reader  a 
specimen — from  the  final  episode  of  tragedy  and  treachery,  when  Roland  tries  to 
break  his  wondrous  sword  Durandal  to  prevent  it  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Saracens. 

"  Et  feri  en  la  pierre  de  marbre  par  trois  foiz,  pour  ce  que  brisier  la  voloit. 
■Que  vous  diroie  je  plus?  [This  phrase  '  Quid  plura? '  is  of  frequent  occurrence.] 
En  ii.  moitiez  fendi  la  pierre,  que  onques  Pespee  vial  en  ot. 

"  Dont  commenca  Rollant  a  sonner  son  cor  ....  (that  Christians  might  come 
at  least  in  time  to  receive  his  horse  and  sword)  lors  corna  son  cars  par  tel  vertu 
que  si  grant  alainne  en  issi,  que  le  cor  fendi  par  mi,  et  si  dist  en  et  ciiide  que  les 
veinnes  dou  col  Rollant  li  rompirent "  ;  and  Charlemagne  heard  it  from  his  camp 
eight  leagues  off  and  would  have  returned.  "  Mes  Ganelon  (the  villain  of  the 
piece)  said,  Sire,  ne  retoumez  mie,  que  Kollanz  [text  i.]  sone  tote  jor  son  cor  par 
petit  de  chose  ....  sachiez  qu'il  na  ore  mestier  de  votre  aide,  ainz  chace  a  aucune 
beste  par  eel  bois,  et  pour  ce  va  il  ore  cornant."  Ha,  Dex  [elsewhere  '  Diex '  or 
*  Dieu ']  tant  son  mauves  et  felon  li  conseil  de  Judas  !  " 

The  better  known  Chanson  de  Roland  (8vo,  1870,  with  Fr.  translation  by  A. 
Lehugeur)  is  earlier  in  date,  probably  belonging  to  the  time  ofWilUam^the 
Conqueror. 

^  In  Amhurst's  curious  Secret  History  of  the  said  home  of  learning  (3rd  ed.  8vo, 
1754),  the  author  describes  it  as  "a  place  so  noted  for  faction  and  turbulency  of 
spirit  that  it  became  '  a  monkish  proverb, 

"  'Chronica  si  penses,  cum  pugnant  Oxonienses, 
Post  paucos  menses,  volat  ira  per  Angliginenses.'  " 

The  scholastic  disturbance  which  King  Alfred,  accompanied  doubtless  by  the 
necessary  "  troop  of  horse,"  is  said,  in  a  certain  questionable  passage  of  his  bio- 
graphy, to  have  gone  to  Oxford  to  suppress,  may  never  have  occurred  at  all  ;  but, 
assuming  the  existence  of  the  University,  the  fact  does  not  seem  improbable. 


170  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

But  first  among  royal  biographers  should  surely  come  the  sweet 
and  pious  Joinville  (12 24-13 17)  and  his  intimate  and  pathetic 
memoir  of  Saint  Louis — perhaps  the  most  perfect  work  of  its  kind 
in  any  language,  certainly  unique  as  the  complete  journal  of  a 
crusade. 

"  On  they  came,"  he  writes  of  Damietta,  "  a  good  thirty  of  them 
with  their  drawn  swords  in  hand,  and  Danish  axes.  I  asked  my  lord 
Baldwin  of  Ibelin,  who  knew  well  the  Saracen  tongue,  what  they  were 
saying ;  and  he  answered  that  they  said  they  were  coming  to  cut  off 
our  heads."  All  about  him  French  Knights  were  busy  confessing 
their  sins  to  one  of  the  Brethren  of  the  Trinity,  of  the  household  of 
William  of  Flanders.  But  Joinville  could  not  think  of  a  sin  to 
confess — only  that  it  was  no  use  trying  to  defend  himself  or  run 
away.  And  when  one  of  the  terrible  axes  was  raised  above  him  he 
could  only  kneel  and  cross  himself  thinking,  "  Thus  died  St.  Agnes." 
But  the  Constable  of  Cyprus,  who  knelt,  in  that  awful  moment,  at  his 
side,  insisted  on  confessing  to  him.  "  I  absolve  you,"  murmured 
Joinville,  "  with  such  power  as  God  has  given  me.  But  when  I  rose 
up  I  could  not  remember  a  word  of  what  he  had  said'^  All  which  is 
unheroic,  but  very  human,  illustrating  indeed  the  childlike  Greek 
sensitive  side  of  French  nature ;  in  a  simple  age  when  theologians 
were  gravely  debating  whether  two  angels  could  occupy  the  same  space, 
and  mathematicians  were  morbidly  anxious,  as  a  learned  wit  assures 

The  most  singular  of  all  disturbances  at  Oxford  is  that  described  in  the  Chronicle 
\of  Adam  of  Usk  (ed.  E.  M.  Thompson,  8vo,  1876,  p.  109)  and  which  lasted 
for  '^  two  years"  (1388-9).  This  was  a  conflict  between  the  Northerners,  and 
,the  Southerners  and  Welsh.  The  former  held  the  streets  as  a  camp,  and  shot 
arrows  at  their  antagonists  crying  "War!  war!  sle,  sle  the  Welsh  doggys!" 
Several  Halls  were  "broken  and  plundered,"  and  many  lives  lost.  And  certain 
of  the  most  distinguished  colleges  at  Oxford  have  exhibited,  in  our  own  days,  a 

quite  mediaeval  laxity  of  discipline On  the  other  hand,  do  we  not  still  get 

many  of  our  Revolutions  from  that  "  home  of  the  inexact  and  the  effete,"  as  Mr. 
Stevenson  calls  it,  or,  let  us  rather  say,  from  "  the  Paris,"  as  a  kindlier  critic  has  it, 
"  of  Great  Britain  "  ? 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  171 

US,  lest  the  acute  angles  of  a  triangle  should  be  injurious  to  religion. 
Quite  different  is  our  feeling  for  that  flower  of  chivalry  Bertrand  du 
Guesclin  when  he  tells  us  of  the  Battle  of  Poictiers,  and  of  the  wrath 
of  Marshal  i^idreghen,  when  accused  of  fear  because  he  counselled 
concession  of  the  English  demands.  "  Clermont,"  he  swore,  "  the 
rest  of  my  lance  will  be  before  the  point  of  yours."  With  Du 
Guesclin's  little  volume  (he  died  in  1380)  we  are  already  passing  into 
the  more  conventional  domain  of  the  Chronicle,  par  excellence,  as 
distinguished  both  from  the  early  annalist,  and  the  later  "  historian  " 
(the  ideal  Chronicle  by  the  way,  is  printed  in  black  letter  by  Vdrard, 
and  the  heading  of  every  chapter  begins  with  "  Comment "  in  a 
fashion  fatiguing  to  the  eye)  of  Froissart,  that  is,  and  Jean  le  Bel, 
continued  by  Monstrelet. 

Villehardouin,  Joinville,  Froissart,  Monstrelet,  the  biographer  of 
Du  Guesclin,  and  the  loyal  servitor  of  Bayart,  what  a  brilliant  series 
do  they  not  present  of  naive  and  fascinating  original  materials  for 
history  !  Perhaps  no  names  but  those  of  Matthew  Paris  in  England 
and  the  three  indispensable  Villani  ^  in  Italy,  are  equally  famous. 
Italian  history  in  the  days  of  the  Republics  is,  of  course,  a  vast  and 
complicated  tangle,  which  few  writers  even  pretended  to  describe. 
Among  isolated  memoirs  of  the  most  stormy  and  factious  period 

^  It  is  Giovanni  who  describes  the  "  odious  and  appalling  spectacle  "  which  pos- 
sibly owed  its  origin  to  the  earliest  circulation  of  Dante's  Inferno,  when  upon  a  ^ 
sort  of  bridge  of  boats  erected  over  the  River  Amo  all  the  horrors  of  Hell  were 
enacted  (May,  1304)  by  men  dressed  up  as  devils,  and  others  stark-naked  (?) 
representing  souls  in  torture,  amid  a  hullabaloo  of  yells  and  screams.  "  The  twvelty 
of  the  entertainment,"  we  are  told,  drew  vast  crowds  on  to  the  wooden  bridge 
which  finally  gave  way,  many  of  the  spectators  being  killed,  or  drowned  in  the 
river.  Thus  was  verified  what  had  been  promised  in  the  previous  advertisement  of  1 
the  entertainment  that  they  should  learn  something  of  the  other  world.  {Storm, 
lib.  viii.  70.)  An  incident  more  peculiarly  characteristic  of  Italian  mediaeval 
history  is  the  disastrous  failure  of  the  great  Bardi  bank  in  1345.     (Lib.  xii.  54.) 

The  small  Chronicle  of  Compagni  was  published  in  1728,  and  an  excellent 
modem  edition  with  index,  forming  part  of  the  Scrittori  Italiani,  8vo,  Pisa, 
l8l8,  with  Nardi's  Life  of  Ant.  Giacomini. 


172  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

there  is  none  more  deserving  of  mention  than  the  short  Florejitine 
History  {ixfym  1280  to  13 12)  of  Dino  Compagni,  the  contemporary 
and  political  associate  of  Dante  Aldighieri,  which  plunges  the  reader 
at  once  into  the  very  midst  of  the  barbarous  and  bloodthirsty  quarrels 
of  Guelfs  and  Ghibellins,  Blacks  and  Whites,  Cerchi  and  Donati,  and 
is  none  the  less  attractive  for  the  all-pervading  passion  of  the  writer. 
Small  histories,  of  one  State  or  another,  are  numerous  in  the  follow- 
ing centuries,  and  of  very  various  interest,  but  many  of  these  as  well 
as  more  special  works  such  as  Petrarch's  Letters,  and  J^es  Memor- 
abiles,  Politian's  account  of  the  Pazzi  conspiracy  (4to,  1769)  belong 
strictly  to  the  literature  here  considered. 

England,  if  not  so  rich  as  Italy  in  histories,  nor  as  France  in  me- 
moirs, possesses  at  least  one  unique  national  monument  in  the  famous 
Paston  Letters,  extending  as  they  do  in  almost  unbroken  series  from 
1422  to  1509,  and  exhibiting  to  us  the  administrative  darkness,  local 
irresponsibility,  and  rough-and-tumble  social  savagery  of  the  late  (and 
stale)  middle  ages.  But  the  Paston  Letters  are  not  exactly  attractive 
reading.  Not  sufficient  taste  or  capacity  for  writing  has  been 
-developed  at  their  date  to  make  these  records  the  enthralling  work 
they  might  have  been.  Such  taste  and  capacity  hardly  appear  till 
half  a  century  later,  when  the  Renaissance  has  come,  and  its  first 
merely  literary  and  "  book-making  "  enthusiasm  has  worn  off.  An  ex- 
cessive attention  to  literary  form  and  style  has  an  injurious  effect 
upon  literature  the  essential  characteristic  of  which  is  vigorous 
self-expression.  How  often,  for  example,  is  the  miscellaneous  reader 
and  book-hunter  disappointed  to  find,  on  taking  up  what  are  entitled 
{forsooth)  the  Familiar  Letters  of  some  celebrity  born  about  the  date 
of  the  invention  of  printing,  that  the  volume  is  stuffed  with  Cicero- 
nian phraseology  et  prceterea  nihil!  Of  the  literary  "miscellany" 
often  the  most  "  humane  "  production  of  such  an  age,  we  have  given 
examples  at  an  earlier  date  (see  page  1 63).  In  such  works  a  collec- 
tion of  maxims  or  platitudes  are  frequently  illustrated  by  examples 
drawn  from  any  age  but  that  of  the  learned  writer.     But  one  never 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  173 

can  be  quite  sure.  The  materials  of  actual  contemporary  history 
now  and  then  lie  hid  amid  scholastic  exercises  and  dilettante  tri- 
vialities, and  a  single  passing  reference,  or  a  brace  of  anecdotes,  may 
make  such  a  volume  (at  even  more  than  waste  paper  price)  well 
worth  having. 

Miscellanies  such  as  those  of  Estienne  Pasquier^  and  Claude  ^ 
Fauchet  are,  of  course,  standard  works  of  reference.  The  inferior 
sort  we  only  consult,  as  a  rule,  in  order  to  take  up  the  spoor  of  some 
historical  myth  or  obscure  quotation.  The  scandal  of  the  true 
"  memoir  "  is  fresh  killed,  and  has  a  "  gamey  "  flavour  of  its  own  ; 
and,  as  has  been  observed  elsewhere,  the  natural  home  of  this 
literature  is  in  France,  where  it  obtained  a  diverse  but  unrivalled 
growth  in  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  during  the  period 
of  the  religious  civil  wars,  and  again  throughout  the  splendid  (but 
less  actual)  "  Augustan  age  "  of  the  "  Grand  Monarque."  The  grave 
historian  De  Thou — who  is  chiefly  a  judicious  compiler  and  editor  of 
the  original  records  of  his  time  ^ — the  journalist  L'Estoile,  the  Pro- 
testant leader  De  Rohan,  the  unscrupulous  and  candid  Brantome,  the 
' '  iron-armed  "  Calvinistic  captain  La  Noue, whose  Political  afid  Military  y 
Discourses  comprise  more  than  their  title  suggests,  Palma  de  Cayet,^ 

^  Pasquier's  Recherches  df  la  France  stand  by  themselves,  so  their  frequent 
citation  would  seem  to  show,  as  a  comprehensive  sort  of  introduction  to  a  vast 
number  of  subjects  and  authors.  From  the  most  important  fact  in  history  to  a 
fancy  concerning  the  song  of  the  nightingale  there  is  nothing  the  reader  can  feel 
certain  of  not  finding  therein.  With  regard  to  its  bibliography,  the  existence  of  the 
handsome  4to  edition  by  Sonnius,  161 5  (of  which  I  possess  a  copy)  has,  if  I  recollect 
right,  been  "revoque  en  doute  "  by  learned  bibliographers.  (The  true  book- 
collector  should  wish  this  to  be  the  case  with  all  his  possessions.)  Its  special 
interest  consists  in  the  fact  that,  amid  so  much  merely  literary  and  antiquarian 
matter  here  lurks  (suppressed  in  some  editions)  the  most  enthusiastic  of  Tracts  for 
the  Times,  Pasquier's  striking  appeal  to  the  Jesuits  (iii.  36  sq.  and  see  in  particular 
p.  408).  Since  the  last  edition  had  occurred  an  event  of  no  small  significance  in 
relation  to  his  case — the  murder  of  Henry  IV.  As  to  Fauchet  see  p.  252. 
2  V.  Ranke's  French  History  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  Appendix^ 
*  Whose  Chronologies  Novtnnairt,  and  Septenaire  1589-1604  contain  many 


174 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS. 


Pierre  Mathieu,  and  a  score  of  other  memoir-writers  and  quasi- 
historians  (of  pamphleteers  we  have  spoken  elsewhere)  throw  a  lurid 
and  troubled  light  upon  the  former  period.  But  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  say  that  there  is  one  memoir  of  memoirs,  which  either  as  a  personal 
revelation  or  as  a  record  of  events,  should  by  rights  come  at  the  head 
of  such  a  chapter  as  the  present,  the  Memoirs  of  Marguerite  de  Valois, 


Device  from  title  of  P.  Mathieu,  Hist,  des 
demiers  troubles  de  la  France.  8vo. 
Jouxte  la  copie  imprimie  k  Lyon.     1604. 


Device  from  title-page  of  P.  Victor  de  Cayel 
Chronologie  Se^tenaire.  8vo.  Jean 
Richer.    Paris.     1607. 


Queen  of  Navarre.  Whole  volumes  might  be  written  upon  this 
single  book,  upon  its  wit,  its  candour,  its  artfulness,  the  deep  tragedy 
pervading  it,  and  the  extraordinary  relations  of  its  dramatis  persoticz 
to  one  another  in  that  wondrous  age  of  which  "  c'etait  le  propre  " — 
the  characteristic  of  certain  highly  interesting  ages  "  d'allier  la  licence 
avec  FactivitL"     M.  Charles  Caboche  has  written  one  such  volume  in 

details  not  found  elsewhere,  and  in  particular  (not  to  mention  the  story  of  the 
Wandering  Jew)  a  considerable  account  of  the  voyages  and  discoveries  of  the 
time,  French  settlement  in  Canada,  &c.  The  '■^ Mercure  Francois"  in  25  vols. 
(1605-1644)  is  a  continuation  of  this  work.  La  Noue's  extremely  sensible  Discours 
Politiques,  &c.  are  to  be  had  in  a  good  cubical  i6mo  ed.  with  index,  1614. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  175 

his  copious  but  most  useful  introduction,  biographical  and  literary,  for 
the  work  is  also  important  in  both  respects.  "  Tous  les  mots  risquds 
ou  rencontrds  par  cette  princesse,"  he  tells  us  in  an  extremely  French 
note  which  it  is  impossible  not  to  cite,  "  ne  sont  pas  restes  dans 
I'usage.  Philastie  est  demeurd  grec  malgrd  elle.  .  .  .  D'autres  [ex- 
pressions] ont  disparu  avec  Taction  qu'elles  rappellent,  on  ne  dit  plus 
'  aprbs  I'avoir  dague  on  le  jeta  par  les  fenetres '  (43) ;  grace  k  Dieu  on 
ne  le  ferait  pas  davantage."  The  picture  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Eve, 
following  this  citation,  at  least  rouses  pity  for  the  bride  of  nineteen, 
kept  awake  late  by  the  thirty  Huguenot  friends  surrounding  her  . 
husband's  bed,  with  whom  she  was  imperfectly  acquainted,  "  having  [ 
been  but  a  few  days  married,"  and  roused  from  her  first  slumbers  by  ' 
the  terrifying  grasp  of  a  victim  of  the  massacres,  who  flings  himself 
upon  her,  streaming  with  blood,  and  pursued  by  four  cut-throats  of 
the  League !  As  to  the  biography  supplied  by  M.  Caboche  in  his 
edition  (1861,  the  text  alone  first  appeared  corrected  from  the  MS. 
in  1842),  it  maybe  said  to  comprise  (inevitably)  all  the  most  scandal- 
ous passages  from  all  the  contemporary  historians,  one  important 
source  being  the  atrocious  pamphlet  entitled  Le  Divorce  Satyrique, 
which  finds  a  congenial  place  in  that  Recueil  de  pihes  servant  a 
rHistoire  de  Henry  III.  (p.  187,  ed.  1683)  referred  to  above. 

The  great  Bethune,  Duke  of  Sully,  and  Baron  Rosny,  who  escaped 
as  a  boy  of  thirteen  from  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's,  should  by 
rights  have  bequeathed  to  us  the  most  valuable  record  of  all.  But  he 
did  not,  and  thereby  hangs  a  mysterious  tale.  The  memoirs  of 
Sully,  in  French  and  English,  are  most  commonly  known  in  a 
modernised  version,  revised  and  "  arranged  "  (not  so  unfairly  as  has 
been  alleged)  by  the  Abb^  L'Ecluse,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Marquis 
d'Argenson  (as  the  latter  tells  us  in  his  own  memoirs),  and  first 
published  in  three  volumes,  quarto,  1745.  Whatever  may  be  said  of 
this  text  (and  a  whole  volume  of  strictures  upon  its  Jesuitical  bias 
appeared  soon  after,  and  was  reprinted  in  1762),  the  "original"  is, 
as  near  as  may  be  for  a  book  teeming  with  valuable  information, 


176 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 


absolutely  unreadable.  The  subject  is  a  painful  one,  and  What  fad 
or  vanity  induced  the  great  economist  to  have  the  narrative  of  his 
life  and  doings  addressed  to  him  by  a  quartett  of  secretaries,  who  are 

LIBRI   TRE. 

AL  GRAN  DVCA  DI  TXORENZA 
E  T    D  I    SIENA. 


IN    VEN  ETI  A. 

Device  from  the  title-page  of  the  History  of  the  War  in  theXow  Countries,  of 
Ludovico  Guilliardini  (1523- 1589),  nephew  of  the  historian  ;  Commetitari  delle 
cose  piu  metnorabili  seguite  in  Europa,  specialmente  in  questi  paesi  bassi  (the 
original  edition  dates  from  Antwerp)  dalla  pace  di  Cambrai  1529,  inf.  a  tutto 
fanno  1560.  In  Venetia,  appr.  Nicolo  Bevilacqua.  4to.  1565.  For  some  re- 
flections made  in  this  work,  the  author  (who  also  wrote  a  topographical  description 
of  Belgium,  Totius  Belgice  descriptio,  i2nio,  1652)  was  imprisoned  by  the  Duke  of 
Alva. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  177 

endlessly  employed,  like  characters  of  conventional  drama,  in  telling  f 
him  what  he  already  knows,  who  repeat  themselves  and  confound 
their  subject-matter,  and  who  were  guided  as  to  the  amount  they 
wrote  by  the  probable  size  of  the  volume  to  be  filled  ! — passes  com-  \ 
prehension.  "  You  did  this,"  chatter  these  fatuous  officials,  "  and 
then  you  said  that,"  and  "having,  with  your  usual  astuteness, 
extricated  yourself  from  the  above-mentioned  dilemma,  you  next  , 
proceeded  with  characteristic  tact  to,  &c.,  &c,"  The  mere  fulsome  ' 
flattery  of  the  production,  however  concocted,  is  enough  to  sickert' 
any  reader.  Nor  is  it  reliable,  sad  to  say,  as  to  many  details.  Where 
the  change  of  a  date,  for  example,  could  give  Sully  the  credit  of  an 
additional  diplomatic  or  political  service  to  the  great  king  his  master, 
the  secretaries — or  must  we  say  the  author  ? — scrupled  not  to  change 
it.  Yet  the  work  is  truly  indispensable,  and,  as  Walpole  observes 
after  perusing  the  first  edition,  will  repay  occasional  prying  excursions 
into  its  chaotic  contents.  Only  beware  of  the  Index.  Indices  in 
those  old  days  were  composed  by  trained  Junatics  who  did  nothing 
else.  Witness  the  following  "  prize  entry "  which  we  once  found 
under  Q,  after  fruitless  inquiry  of  all  other  letters,  in  the  "  table  "  of 
a  famous  and  valuable  history  of  the  sixteenth  century,  "  Quce  uno 
die  diver  sis  locis  acciderunt "  ! 

It  should  be  added  in  common  fairness  that  the  day  referred  to 
was  a  very  remarkable  one,  even  for  the  sixteenth  century. 

It  is  hardly  possible,  we  think,  for  a  reader  not  to  find  this  active 
and  agitated  period  of  more  interest  than  any  other.  Every  century, 
every  great  epoch,  has  indeed  a  peculiar  interest  and  "colouring,"  so 
to  speak,  of  its  own,  an  interest  and  colouring  expressed  to  a  sur- 
prising extent,  since  the  invention  of  printing  (and  most  notably  in 
the  case  of  the  Renaissance),  by  the  very  appearance  and  typography 
of  its  productions,  a  fact  borne  in  upon  all  who  have  systematically 
examined  many  thousands  of  old  books. 

But  to  come  to  a  more  practical  point,  if  we  recall  the  number  of 
striking,  dreadful  and  significant  episodes  that  star  the  surface  of  the 


§v 


178  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

sixteenth  century,  the  incidents  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  Council 
of  Trent,  the  sack  of  Rome,  the  sack  of  Antwerp  and  other  tragedies 
in  the  Netherlands,  the  Anabaptist  rising  in  Germany,  the  execution 
of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  the  defeat  of  the  Armada,  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew  (and  the  other  massacres  and  murders  that  mark  the 
course  of  the  religious  civil  wars  in  France),  the  Turkish  victories  in 
Europe,  and  the  battle  of  Lepanto — if  we  consider  such  events,  and 
the  prevalent  literary  enthusiasm  of  the  time,  it  is  easy  to  understand 
how  vast  a  number  of  what  may  be  called  local  and  episodic  memoirs 
of  this  period  (besides  the  larger  works  of  professed  historians)  have 
come  down  to  us,  in  many  cases  already  collected  for  our  use  by 
contemporary  editors,  and  in  many  others  bound  up  together  by 
judicious  collectors  of  later  date.^ 

It  may  be  doubted  if  the  celebrated  Agrippa  d'Aubignd  did  not 
rival  Sully  both  in  vanity  and  capacity.  This  gentleman  of  France 
died  in  1630.  His  memoirs,  which  also  supply  a  key  to  his  Ujiiversal 
History,  in  which  latter  work  he  clearly  considers  that   he   had  not 

^  For  an  example  of  the  first  one  might  refer  to  Goulart's  celebrated  Mdmoires 
de  t Rstat  de  France  sous  Charles  IX.  referred  to  above,  which  comprise  not  only 
a  mass  of  details  concerning  the  period,  with  documents,  decrees,  edicts,  and 
harangues,  &c.,  but  also  a  selection  of  important  tracts  of  the  time, — or  to  such  a 
collection  of  contemporary  narratives  as  that  put  together  by  Lonicer  in  his  useful 
"  Turkish  Chronicles,"  Chronicorum  Turcicortcm,  tomi  duo."     8vo,  1578. 

As  to  the  second,  as' good  an  example  as  any  I  have  to  hand  would  be  a  Recueit 
factice  in  small  8vo  (a  sale  duplicate  from  the  British  Museum,  1787)  containing 
the  following  four  pieces,  the  first  three  in  the  original  Latin  : — 

(i)  An  Account  of  the  Turkish  Attack  on  Malta  (1569,  probably  the  most 
remarkable  siege  known  to  history),  with  documents.     Venice,   1566. 

(2)  An  Accoutit  of  the  Turco-Polish  War  in  Wallachia,  &-c.,  &c.  (1574  a.d.) 
Frankfort,   1578. 

(3)  An  Account  of  the  Sack  of  Dantzig  (April  17,  I577)>  with  a  contemporary 
satire.     lb.  1578. 

(4)  Last,  but  not  least — A11  Account  of  the  'African  Expedition,  and  death 
(Aug.  4,  1578)  of  King  Sebastian  of  Portugal.  Nuremberg,  1581,  which  is 
(to  indicate  the  popularity  of  the  work)  a  Latin  translation  of  the  French  translation 
of  the  original  Portuguese  account. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  179 

said  quite  enough  abput  himself,  are  written  in  the  very  first  person, 
and  with  that  irresistible  frankness  and  abandon  which,  one  must 
admit,  often  characterises  the  most  appalling  mendacity.  His  single 
volume,  which  no  one  would  think  of  laying  down  unfinished,  re- 
minds one  constantly  of  George  Borrow,  not  to  say  of  "Terence 
D'Euville  "  in  Mr.  Bret  Harte's  "  condensed  "  Sensation  Novel.  "At 
the  age  of  four,"  says  the  latter  hero,  "  I  was  the  best  shot  and  the 
boldest  rider  in  the  county."  <'  At  the  age  of  six,"  writes  M.  Theodore 
Agrippa  to  his  admiring  descendants,  "  I  could  read  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew  without  points,  besides  French.  "^  "  At  seven-and-a-half 
I  translated  Plato's  Crito,  qn  my  father  promising  that  the  work  should 
be  printed  with  my  infa7iti7ie  effigy  on  the  title-page^  Does  any  modern 
collector  possess  this  volume  ?     We  should  be  glad  to  see  it. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  D'Aubignd  was  of  course  in  the  saddle  per- 
forming prodigies  of  valour.  To  say  that  he  was  the  wisest  counsellor 
of  Henry  IV.  and  yet  the  staunchest  of  Huguenots ;  that  in  wit,  in- 
telligence, and  heroism  he  surpassed  all  persons  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact,  is  not  to  sum  up  his  brief  memoirs  too  favourably.  His 
own  repartees,  recorded  by  himself,  are  really  first-rate ;  and  his 
"  assurance  "  on  many  points  convincing  enough ;  and  how  excellent, 
for  example,  is  his  story  of  the  gentleman  who,  joining  the  royal 
cavalcade,  and  assuming  Roquelaure,  as  le  niieux  dore  of  the 
party,  to  be  the  king,  took  his  place  by  the  side  of  Henri  Quatre, 

*  Mdmoires  icrits  par  lui-mcme,  otherwise  called  Histoire  secrete.      The  text 
of  the  common  eighteenth  century  edition  (173 1 )  is  modernised,  and  (?)  corrupt./ 
D'Aubigne  was  the  grandfather  of  Madame  de  Maintenon.     Upon  his  memoirs,! 
and  his  satirical  romance  Le  Baron  de  Focneste  see  some  remarks  on  p.  426  orv , 
Bayle's  Lettres  Choisies  (3  vols.  8vo,  Rotterdam,  1873)  which  letters,  by  the  way,  \ 
are  a  sort  of  pocket  edition  of  the  Dictionary,  and  crammed  with  entertaining  / 
details,  literary  and  critical.  ^ 

D'Aubigne,  like  a  still  greater  satirist  and  memoir-writer,  found  a  refuge  from 
persecution  at  Geneva,  in  which  neighbourhood  he  purchased  an  estate  and  built  a 
castle  to  protect  himself  against  the  persecutions  of  the  court  of  France,  and  the 
' '  ten  assassins  "  employed  by  his  political  opponents.  See  La  Beaumelle,  Mimoirei 
de  Mine,  de  Maintenoii,  ed.  1789,  i.  83. 

N    2 


i8o 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 


and  entertained  that  monarch  with  the  latest  scandals  about  the 
"  Reine  Margot,"  ^  To  this  class  of  work,  freedom  of  style  and  a 
strongly-marked  individuality  give  the  greatest  value.  Brantome  is 
free  alike  from  prejudice  and  good  taste,  but  his  works  are  too  much 
a  mere  congeries  of  details,  too  frequently  of  the  sort  which  merely 
amuse  or  disgust.  D'Aubigne  is  a  real  character  for  whom  we  feel 
a  sincere  regard ;  nay,  in  his  capacity  of  soldier,  diplomatist,  historian, 
satirist — for  he  contributes  the  important  "  Confession  Catholique  du 
Sieur  de  Sancy  "  to  that  celebrated  Recueil  de  Pieces  diverses  servant 
a  VHist.  de  Henry  III.,  &c.,  which  had  such  a  vogue  in  the  seven- 
teenth century — one  of  the  leading  men  of  his  time. 

The  mention  of  Henry  III.  recalls  a  rarer  work— the  Mhnoires  tres 
particuliers^  in  w'hich  Charles  de  Valois,  Due  d'Augouleme,  de- 
scribes, with  much  pathetic  detail,  the  death  of  that  monarch  at  the 

^  Busbec's  little  volume,  so  familiar  to  all  book-hunters  in  the  diminutive  but  ex- 
cellent Elzevir  edition  of  1633  (Willems,  380) 
is  usually  cited  on  Turkish  affairs.  Among  the 
Letters  from  Paris  (Ep.  xxiii.  p.  517)  is  described 
the  scandalous  scene  between  Henry  III.  and  the 
Queen  of  Navarre. 

The  mention  of  this  excellently  printed  work 
recalls  the  number  of  valuable  histories  and 
records  published  by  the  Elzevirs.  Of  all  these 
the  most  beautiful  I  have  ever  seen  (and  quite 
one  of  the  best  productions  of  the  century)  is 
Cardinal  Bentivoglio's  Hist,  delta  guerra  di 
Fiandra,  3  vols.  8vo,  in  Coloma,  1635-6  and 
1640.  Equally  attractive  is  the  (less  valuable) 
Memorie  owcro  Diario,  1648,  and  the  (highly 
interesting)  Lettere  (from  France  and  Flanders), 
1646  (Crawford  copy).  All  are  in  large  clear 
type,  on  fine  paper.  The  device  (Palm)  here 
reproduced    is    said    to    have    been    purchased 

by  the  Elzevirs  from  Erpenius. 
^  lamo,  Paris  (wood-cut  title,  view  of  the  Seine)  1667.  A  curious  fact,  of  which 

I  find  a  MS.  note  on  my  copy  is  that  the  (second)  wife  of  Angouleme,  himself  a 

natural  son  of  C/iartes  IX.,  only  died  in  1713  ! 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  i8r 

hand  of  Jacques  Clement.  Angouleme — a  boy  of  sixteen — himself 
saw  the  "  demon  of  a  monk,"  and  held  the  feet  of  the  king  as  he  lay 
in  his  mortal  agony. 

With  D'Aubigne',  again,  we  may  compare  another  lordly  narrator 
of  his  own  exploits,  belonging  to  a  yet  more  famous  family.  The 
Memoires  d^ Henri  de  Lorraine,  Ducde  Guise,  "  le  Guise  Napoletain  " 
(fifth  duke,  and  great-grandson  of  Le  Balafrd,  assassinated  in 
-jg^^  and  who  also  left  memoirs),  were  first  published  in  1668, 
twenty-four  years  after  the  author's  death,  and  reprinted  in  i68i,with 
supplement,  1687.  Madame  de  Motteville  tells  us  a  good  deal  about 
the  author  of  these  memoirs.  Apart  from  their  value  as  a  detailed 
.account  of  the  Neapolitan  Revolution  and  the  struggle  with  Spain  by 
the  generalissimo  who  directed  it,  the  dry  humour  and  despotic 
verve  of  the  writer  is  peculiarly  characteristic  of  one  of  those  histories 
written  by  people  qui  commandoient  aux  affaires,  of  which  Montaigne 
thought  so  highly.^  "  I  replied,  with  a  smile,"  writes  the  Duke,  after 
one  of  his  adventures,  "  that  I  was  not  the  sort  of  person  to  be  afraid 
of  the  canaille  [ed.  1681,  p.  138],  since,  when  God  made  a  man  of 
my  condition  he  put  something  {unje  ne  s^ais  guoi)  between  his  eyes 
which  the  rabble  could  not  face  without  trembling."  This  something 
and  the  promptitude  with  which  he  orders  ill-disposed  and  impertin- 
ent individuals  to  prison  or  execution,  affect  the  reader  strongly. 
'  Fort  senses,"  is  the  comment  of  a  French  critic  on  these  memoirs, 
the  action  of  which  is  brisk,  with  no  waste  of  words.  It  should  be 
added  that  the  Duke's  confessor  also  contributed  an  interesting 
"  account  of  the  state  of  Naples  "  under  his  government,  which  does 
not  in  all  respects  accord  with  the  Guise  version.^ 

To  return  a  little  in  time  and  to  cross  the  Channel,  perhaps  it  may 
safely  be  asserted  that  the  most  striking  autobiography  in  the  English 

1  See  the  excellent  criticisms  of  historians  in  the  chapter  on  Books.  Essais,  ii.  10. 

2  Relation  de  tEstat  de  la  Republique  de  Naples  sous  le  Gouveniemint  de  M.  le 
Due  de  Guise,  traduit  de  I'ltalien  (de  Francesco  Capecelatro)  par  M.  Marie  Turge- 
Loredan  (a  French  lady  who  apologises  for  appearing  as  an  author).    l2mo.    1680. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

..guage  is  from  the  pen  of  the  famous  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury 
(1581-1648),  a  contemporary  to  some  extent  of  D'Aubigne,  since  he 
died  but  eighteen  years  later,  and  quite  equally  remarkable  as  a  dis- 
tinguished and  original  personality,  a  wit,  a  philosopher,  a  soldier, 
and  an  author.^  Moreover,  he  spent  a  considerable  time  abroad,  and 
came  much  under  French  influence.  Whatever  the  cause,  Herbert's 
superiority  to  an  affected  generation  is  as  remarkable  as  the  diversity 
of  his  interests. 

Fencing,  hunting,  duelling,  travels  in  France  and  Italy,  music, 
racing,  politics,  captures  of  outlaws  in  the  mountains  of  Montgomery- 
shire, all  interspersed  with  acutely  sensible  and  highly  moral  reflec- 
tions, make  up  his  excellent  little  book.     The  style  is  a  trifle  too 

/  conscious,  perhaps,  even  boastful,  but  thoroughly  entertaining.  How 
sharp  is  his  retort  to  Conde's  attack  upon  "the  King  my  master's" 
awful  habit  of  "  cursing." — It  all  came  of  his  majesty's  "  gentleness  " 

',  of  disposition.  How  so  ?  Because  those  ivhoin  he  could  have  punished 
himself  he  left  to  the  Almighty  to  punish. 

With  his  Life  and  Raig7ie  of  Henry  VIII.  (as  the  author  was 
born  nearly  forty  years  after  that  monarch's  death)  we  are  not 
here  concerned ;  but  only  a  few  years  before  the  date  of  the  memoirs, 
which  conclude  with  a  mention  of  the  first  publication  of  the  aris- 
tocratic author's  magnum  opus  on  the  foundations  of  belief  (in 
French,  Paris,  1639,  4to),  was  written  by  Sir  Robert  Naunton  what 
should  by  rights  have  been  the  best  contemporary  record  of  the  court 
of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Naunton  waS  born  some  twenty  years  before 
Herbert,  yet  his  Fragmenta  Regalia^  was  not  published  till  1641, 

^  For  his  great  religious  treatise  see  Hallam.  The  Memoirs  were  nearly  lost  to 
posterity.  A  MS.  could  not  be  found  in  1741,  as  Walpole  tells  us  in  the  preface 
to  his  first  edition  of  them  in  1764  (4to,  200  copies).  They  were  excellently 
reprinted  (8vo,  1824)  by  J.  Warwick,  Brooke  Street,  Holborn.  In  my  copy  is  a 
fine  portrait  dated  Saunders  and  Otley,  1826. 

^  No  editions  are  worth  having  till  Arber's  annotated  reprint  of  1870  (see  that 
editor's  preface),  all  the  earlier  issues  1641-42-53  (and  the  edition  of  1814  is  a 
mere  reprint  of  that  of  1641)  being  more  or  less  hopelessly  corrupt. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  183 

six  years  after  the  author's  death.  The  work— a  "  little  draught  01 
the  great  princess  and  her  times,"  is  of  great  value,  but  its  defects 
(apart  from  the  affectation  of  the  style)  are  summed  up  in  the  fatal 
■editorial  comment — "  Naunton  lived  too  near  the  times  he  wrote  of 
to  write  all  he  knew."  Modesty  and  other  regrettable  characteristics 
made  him  prefer  even  the  "censure  of  abruption"  to  the  "deface- 
ment of  persons  departed,  whose  posterity  yet  remain."  The  work 
was  therefore  deliberately  left  in  an  obscure,  imperfect,  and  unfinished 
•state — a  mere  collection  of  notes  on  Queen  Elizabeth's  favourites — but 
is,  needless  to  say,  a  booklet  which  every  one  should  read,  especially 
as  it  will  not  occupy  the  time  usually  given  to  an  evening  paper. 

To  English  memoirs  of  the  later  seventeenth  century  the  reader  is 
pleasantly  introduced  in  the  interesting  footnotes  of  Macaulay,  who, 
whatever  his  defects,  was  more  deeply  saturated  with  the  popular 
literature  of  his  period  than  any  historian  living  or  dead,  who  draws 
"  human  interest "  or  local  colour  from  the  obscurest  literature  of 
libel,  drama,  and  fiction,  from  Hamilton's  Zeneyde  or  the  gossip  of 
Corporal  Trim.  From  the  mass  of  contemporary  records  of  this 
time  one  naturally  puts  aside  as  works  unique  of  their  kind  (like 
the  Paston  Letters  aforesaid)  the  Diaries  of  Evelyn  and  Pepys,  of 
which  the  latter,  as  the  reader  is  usually  reminded  in  the  preface, 
is  for  the  single  decade  which  it  covers  (1659-69),  of  the  more 
intense  and  exact  contemporary  interest ;  while  the  former,  a  more 
cultivated  and  leisurely  work,  covering  a  larger  as  well  as  later 
period  (up  to  a  month  before  the  author's  death  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
five,  February  27th,  1706),  "partakes  more  of  the  nature  of  history." 
Dismissing  these,  which  are  in  every  reader's  hands,  perhaps  it  may 
t)e  said  that  the  English  seventeenth  century  memoir  suffers  largely 
from  its  peculiar  nature.  Military  memoirs  and  the  analysis  of  cam- 
paigns are  of  course  of  a  "special"  interest,  essential  indeed  to 
history,  but  generally  appealing  to  something  much  smaller  than 
"  humanity."  To  many  "  voracious  "  book-hunters  there  is  something 
almost   terrifying   in   the   very   appearance,  the   ugly  binding,  the 


i84  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

common  paper,  the  meaningless  capitals,  the  crooked  yet  rarely- 
picturesque  typography  of  an  English  volume  of  the  seventeenth 
century;  the  secret  being  that  such  literature  is  almost  all  in  an 
"  atmosphere  "  of  political,  or  still  worse  of  theological,  controversy. 
In  England,  as  in  France,  it  may  perhaps  be  said  generally  that 
the  transition  from  the  sixteenth  to  the  seventeenth  century  marks  a 
decline  in  interest.  In  France  the  civilisation  following  upon  the 
final  settlement  of  the  most  absolute  of  absolute  monarchies  rather 
represents  a  period  of  splendid  but  insecure  repose.  It  was  the 
triumph  of  Mme.  de  Sevigne  to  show  how  high,  how  near  to  the  level 
of  modern  days  such  a  civilisation  could  be  carried  in  a  society 
where  political  and  intellectual  liberty  were  practically  unknown. 
In  England  there  was  more  serious  work  to  be  done,  and  those 
who  did  it,  or  resisted  its  doing,  are  often,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  general  and  humane  interest,  too  busy  to  be  entertaining. 
Puritanism,  Political  Theory,  and  Civil  War,  these  make  an  atmosphere 
which  seems,  for  the  time,  to  stifle  in  most  writers  all  freshness, 
freedom,  and  vivacity.  Of  the  terrifying  problems  of  theology  we 
need  not  here  speak,  but  the  tolerably  plentiful  and  somewhat  con- 
fusing records  of  the  Civil  War  in  England,  seem  in  their  modern 
'^actuality"  and  seriousness ^  to  have  lost  the  touch  of  old  world 
romance  that  hangs  about  the  struggles  of  the  previous  century. 
The  seventeenth  century  was,  moreover,  according  to  one  of 
our  historians,  the  age  when  the  "  misrepresentations  of  Faction  " 
chiefly  began.^  Welwood's  useful  little  Memoirs  of  Material 
Transactions    in    England  for   the   Hundred    Years  preceding  the 

^  A  seriousness  curiously  contrasted  with  the  tragi-comic  triviality  of  the 
"  Fronde,"  which  hardly  acquires  a  "  dignity  of  history"  in  the  commentaries  of 
the  cold  and  sententious  Rochefoucauld.  To  the  French 'memoirs  of  this  age 
should  be  added  the  collection  of  epigrams  and  satires  included  in  the  Tableau 
de  la  vie  de  Richelieu^  Mazarin,  Colbert,  atid  Foitquet,  i2mo,  v.  ed.  1694,  <^l^^^ 
P.  Marteau. 

^  David  Hume,  History  of  his  own  Life,  sm.  8vo.  Lond.  1777,  p.  27  (with 
the  Apology  for  his  Life  and  Writings,  by  Adam  Smith.    Ib^d.) 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  iSj 

Revolution  of  1688,^  (in  part  a  memoir  as  well  as  a  compendium) 
was  written,  he  tells  us,  on  account  of  the  difificulty  experienced 
by  Queen  Mary  in  "  knowing  truly  the  events  of  her  grandfather's 
reign,"  and  confided  to  her  on  the  understanding  that  it  should 
be  shown  to  no  one  else  without  the  author's  consent.  Queen 
Mary  could  not  trust  to  a  letter  of  General  Ludlow  (whose  memoirs, 
have  just  been  re-edited  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Firth)  in  which  the  char- 
acter of  Charles  I.  seemed  to  have  been  "  strangely  blackened,"  and 
thought  that  most  histories  of  the  time  were  either  "Panegyricks 
or  Libels."  Probably  she  would  not  have  been  satisfied  even 
with  the  letters  and  speeches  of  Oliver  Cromwell, — although  these, 
surely,  if  anything,  bring  back  to  us  "  that  Puritanism "  which, 
as  Mr.  Carlyle  remarks,  "  is  not  of  the  nineteenth  century  but  lieth 
buried  in  long  rows  of  dumpy  quartos  (the  very  titles  of  which  are 
wearying  to  the  flesh)  in  huge  indexless  folios,''  and  last  but  not 
least  in  the  "  fifty  thousand  unread  pamphlets  of  the  Civil  War, 
which  lie  mouldering  in  the  British  Museum  alone."  Not  that  all 
the  literature  is  so  bulky  (although  the  mere  relation  of  sieges  and 
battles,  and  of  political  chicanery  is  in  any  form  apt  to  pall),  for 
who  has  not  read  with  delight  the  Short  Memorials  of  Thomas  Lord 
Fairfax "  ^  that  Fairfax  to  whom  Buckingham's  epitaph  assigned 
(besides  his  other  virtues)  that 

"other  thing  quite  out  of  date, 
called  Modesty." 

In  these  128  octavo  pages  have  we  not  the  whole  history  of  a 
Civil  War,  and  what  is  still  more  interesting  to  all  but  the  "  Dryas- 
dust," of  the  feelings  it  roused  in  a  conscientious  man  supported 
only  by  a  religious  fervour  to  which  our  age  is  a  stranger,  through 
all  the  weariness  and  the  "  vexation  of  spirit " — kings  cherishing 

^  See  author's  preface  (7th  ed,  8vo.  1749). 

2  Sm.  8vo,  R.  Chiswell,  1699,  ed.  Brian  Fainax.  At  the  end  is  Chiswell's 
advertisement  of  the  fourth  and  last  part  of  Rushworth's  Collections,  and  his 
catalogue  (9  pp.)  almost  exclusively  theological. 


i86  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

miserable  delusions,  soldiers  who  would  be  statesmen,  "  arch-agita- 
tors," "  Hydra-head  petitions,"  "  private  Juntos,"  and  "  levelling 
Factions,"  crowned  by  the  loss,  let  us  remember,  of  a  beloved 
brother  in  one  of  the  fierce  charges  on  "  Marston  fields." 

Students  of  Macaulay  (and  there  is  surely  no  writer  whose  refer- 
ences so  well  repay  verification),^  will  know  that  there  is  one 
memoir  writer — perhaps  more  often  cited  than  any  other — who 
is  of  continuous  interest  from  the  Restoration  to  the  Revolution — 
but  whose  complete  text  was  not  published  till  some  years  after 
the  historian's  death.  Among  the  numerous  minor  records  of 
the  latter  half  of  this  troubled  century,  the  age  of  Evelyn  and 
Pepys — the  Memoirs  of  Sir  John  Reresby'^  supply,  perhaps,  a  more 
useful  and  readable  narrative  than  any,  and,  in  particular,  a  quite 
pathetic  picture,  of  the  deep  anxieties  undergone  by  the  average 
gentleman,  of  no  particular  principles  or  enthusiasm,  lest  he  should 
be 

"  Off  with  the  old  love  " 

(constitutionally,  of  course,  and  revolutionally  speaking) 
"  Before  he  was  on  with  the  new." 

^  Among  the  less  obvious  sources  cited  one  may  note — Halstead  Robert,  Succinct 
Genealogies,  1685,  in  folio,  "  a  work  probably  known  to  few  even  of  the  most 
curious  and  diligent  readers  of  history,"  and  that  for  obvious  reasons,  the  title 
being  to  some  extent  delusive,  and  the  name  "Robert  Halstead"  fictitious,  the 
real  author  being  the  Earl  of  Peterborough.  Macaulay,  i.  269  (ed.  1858) ; 
Jnghilterra  descritta  dal  P.  D.  Bartoli,  1684 ;  William  Fuller  (spy,  double 
traitor,  &c.)  Life  of  himself ,  which  one  can  believe  to  be  very  curious. 

A  perfect  feast  of  criticism  upon  the  great  "  Quellen"  of  the  period,  as  well  as  a 
large  assortment  of  invaluable  original  texts  and  extracts  in  half  the  languages  in 
Europe  will  be  found  in  the  appendix  to  Ranke's  great  history,  in  which  the 
personal  and  local  "equations"  of  authors  such  as  Burnet  and  Clarendon,  the 
corruptions  of  individual  character,  the  corruptions  of  texts,  the  deranging  effects 
of  exile  and  of  office,  of  London  and  the  Hague,  are  scientifically  weighed  and 
adjusted. 

-  1734.  8vo.  An  abridged  and  imperfect  edition  (?  from  a  MS.  since  lost). 
Complete  text  with  notes  by  J.  Cartwright.  Longmans,  1875.  If  any  other  single 
work  (apart  from  Evelyn  and  Pepys)  supplies  material  of  equal  interest,  it  is  the 
Diary  of  Narcissus  Luttrell. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  187 

Reresby,  at  least,  strikes  one  less  as  being  in  a  particular  clique  or 
■"faction"  than  other  writers — most  notably  the  pious  authoress  of 
The  Life  of  Colonel  Hutchinson,  which  famous  work,  however  inter- 
esting the  military  exploits  therein  narrated,  is  most  valuable  as  the 
picture  of  a  particular  religious  atmosphere,  of  that  "  manner  of  life 
•and  conversation  "  which  gave  perhaps  an  unnecessary  amount  of 
pain  to  the  late  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  and  rendered  him  seriously 
anxious  about  the  social  salvation  of  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  in  the 
"  long  winter  evenings  of  (colonial)  Toronto."  ^ 

The  oppression,  social  and  religious,  in  the  air  of  the  seventeenth 
■century  is  perhaps  nowhere  better  expressed  than  in  some  chapters 
■of  that  immensely  popular  little  work  of  Bishop  Earle  (who  died 
in  1665)  The  World  Display' d:^ 

Who  could  forget  his  She  precise  hypocrite  (!),  "  a  Nonconformist 
in  a  close  stomacher  and  a  ruff  of  Geneva  print,"  who  "doubts  of  the 
Virgin  Mary's  salvation,  and  dares  not  saint  her,  but  knows  her  own 
place  in  Heaven  as  well  as  the  pew  she  has  a  key  to,"  and  is  "  so 
•taken  up  with  faith  that  she  has  no  room  for  charity  "  ? 

Or  to  turn  to  that  most  important  source  of  history  of  the 
period,  Roger  North's  Life  of  the  Lord  Keeper  Guildford  (3rd 
ed.  2  vols.  8vo.  1819),  which,  like  the  author's  other  works, 
and  his  celebrated  "Examen"  of  Kennet's  History  were  put 
foHN'ard  as  an  antidote  to  certain  "solemn  writers  of  English 
affairs."  The  young  Francis  North,  son  of  Dudley  Lord  North 
was  first  put  to  school,  we  are  told,  at  Isleworth  under  the  "  indiffer- 
■cnt  tutorage "  of  a  Mr.  Willis.  The  man  was  a  rigid  Presbyterian 
and  his  wife  a  furious  Independent.     "These  two  sects  at  that  time 

^  See  a  characteristic  passage,  of  perhaps  rather  forced  irony,  in  the  Mixed 
Essays.  Ed.  1880,  p.  S;^.  To  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith's  exaltation  of  the  Puritan 
("Middle-class")  ideal,  the  critic  replies  with  Chillingworth's  summary  of  the 
jnatter,  "  Scribes  and  Pharisees  on  one  side,  publicans  and  sinners  on  the  other." 

*  Which  had  six  editions  (in  its  anonymous  form)  between  1629  and  1633,  and 
perhaps  an  eighth  in  1664  (preface  to  edition  of  1740).  See  also  A  Church 
rapist,  p.  28.     Both  these  objectionable  characters  appeared  in  the  first  edition. 


i88  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

contended  for  pre-eminence  in  tyranny,  so  that  they  hated  one  an- 
other more  than  either  the  Bishops,  or  even  Papists  themselves  "^ 
— a  result  regarded  by  the  biographer  (who  died  in  the  year  1733) 
as  "the  ordinary  curse  of  God  upon  men  permitted  to  prosper  in 


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This  Helmet  was  a  Crown  by  Revelation : 
This  H albert  v<as  a  Scepter  for  the  Nation. 
So  the  Fifth- Monarchy  anew  is  grac'd. 
King  P'enner  next  to  lohn  a  Leyden  jfilac'd. 

Pagitt's  Heresiography,  ed.  1662,  p.  280. 


wickedness."  Mrs.  Willis  instructed  her  babes  in  praying  by  the 
Spirit,  especially  for  their  "  distressed  brethren  in  Ireland."  These 
"  fanatic   schools "  produced   in   the   pupils,   as   we   can   imagine. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  189 

""  violent  reactions."  But  when  the  future  Lord  Keeper  emerged 
from  this  discipline  it  was  only  to  be  subjected  to  a  "Cavalier 
Master  "  (!)  at  the  Grammar  School  of  Bury. 

When  we  consider  how  disturbed  all  social  existence  seems  to 
have  been,  not  only  by  the  actual  dangers  of  war,  but  by  such 
pedantic  factions,  religious  ^  and  political,  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel 
some  sympathy  for  that  eccentric  Marquis  of  Winchester  described 
by  Reresby,  who  usually  dined  all  night  and  slept  all  day,  yet  was 
not  really  mad,  but  on  the  contrary  "  had  good  sense,"  in  fact 
"  most  thought  he  counterfeited  this  that  he  might  be  free  and 
unconcerned  from  the  affairs  of  that  ageJ" 

The  most  striking,  and  historically  significant  antithesis  to  the 
pious  Hutchinson  memoirs  would  be  those  concerning  the  Comte  de 
Gramont  bequeathed  to  us  by  his  illustrious  brother-in-law,  Anthony 
Hamilton,  Hamilton  the  one  French  Briton,  the  one  Irish  Scot  (for 
he  inevitably  recalls  the  liveliest  Hibernian  romance)  who  is  by 
common  consent,  not  only  a  master  of  classic  French,  but  the 
absolute  embodiment  of  r  esprit  Fran^ais.  The  merits  of  this 
wondrous  study  in  what  may  be  called  the  later  chivalry  (for  it  is  no 
more  that  of  Henri  Quatre  than  that  of  Bayard),  this  trivial,  yet 
finished  tableau  of  a  society  which  recognised  only  one  evil — bore- 
dom,2  of  this  elaborate  and  complicated  farce  which  concludes  rather 
tamely  by  the  usual  ne  plus  ultra  of  romance,  the  marriage  of  all  the 

^  In  Ephraim  Va.^i\.i^s  Ileresiography — "a  description  of  the  Hereticks,  &c., 
sprang  up  in  these  latter  times  ....  together  with  brasse  Plates  of  the  most 
eminent  sectaries"  about  sixty  species,  from  the  Plung'd  Anabaptist  to  the 
Grindletonian,  are  enumerated.  This  little  volume  (which  I  possess  in  the  1662 
edition,  containing  the  account  of  the  Fifth  Monarchy  rising,  and  portrait  of 
Venner)  is  in  considerable  demand  among  the  numerous  descendants  of  the  pas- 
sengers in  the  Mayflower. 

2  John  Evelyn  is  surely  to  be  thanked  for  preserving  a  portrait  of  the  one  virtuous 
and  yet  sociable  individual  who  adorned  the  said  court,  wondering  only  "  that  any 
one  could  like  her,"  and  enjoining  her  younger  friends  to  avoid  the  society  of  men. 
It  is  curious  that  the  Life  of  Godolphin,  8vo,  1848,  quite  one  of  the  finest  produc- 
tions of  Pickering,  should  be  seen  so  often  "  lying  about  the  streets." 


I90  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

principal  characters,  have  perhaps  been  overrated.  In  truth  "le  fond 
en  est  mince,"  but  as  Sainte  Beuve  proceeds  to  remark,  though  there 
may  have  been  two  or  three  such  gallants  as  De  Gramont,  there  is  but 
one  Hamilton,  and  this  is  the  only  work  of  his  which  is  worth  read- 
ing, and  re-reading,  as  another  French  critic  insists,  once  a  year. 

It  is  moreover — let  us  jealously  assert — in  so  far  as  it  is  not  a 
novel,  an  English  memoir,  since  when  we  read  it,  we  think  less  of 
such  events  as  the  siege  of  "  Trin,"  or  Lerida,  of  which  we  can  read 
elsewhere,  as  of  Buckingham  dandling  the  Princess  of  Babylon's 
"  baby,"  its  squajls  drowned  by  the  hysterical  laughter  of  the  beauti- 
ful Frances  Stewart  and  the  whole  uproarious  court  of  St.  James's. 

French  life  is  undeniably  duller,  if  grander,  under  the  settled  des- 
potism of  Louis  XIV.  than  in  the  more  romantic  age  preceding  it ;  for 
who  could  write  about  the  "  Grand  Monarque  "  as  Bassompierre  does 
of  Henry  of  Navarre?  In  the  memoirs  of  Mme.  de  Motteville 
(ed.  1783,  vol.  i.,  p.  386)  is  a  mention  of  him  {sub  anno  1646)  which 
seems  to  note  the  passing  away  of  the  old  regime. 

The  poor  man  had  just  died,  quite  suddenly.  Having  apparently 
recovered  from  an  attack  of  fever,  he  was  returning  to  court,  and  at 
the  first  hostel  where  he  put  up  his  servants  found  him  the  next 
morning  dead  in  his  bed.  "  He  who  had  been  so  beloved  by  Henr}^ 
IV." — as  one  knows  from  Bassompierre's  touching  picture  of  the 
familiar  incidents  preceding  the  dreadful  tragedy  of  the  assassination  ^ 
— "  and  so  favoured  by  Mary  de  Medici,  so  admired  and  famous  in 
the  days  of  his  youth,  was  scarce  regretted  in  ours.'''  He  was  still 
handsome,  courtly,  obliging,  and  liberal,  '■'•but  the  young  fellows  could 
not  bear  him.  They  said  that  he  was  not  the  fashion  now,  he  was 
too  fond  of  his  stories,  of  talking  of  himself  and  his  time.  I  have 
known  some  so  ungrateful  as  to  ridicule  him  for  his  readiness  to  offer 
them  hospitality  when  indeed  he  had  scarcely  wherewithal  to  dine 
himself."      Besides,    the   marshal    had    an   old-fashioned    courtesy 

^  Mhnoires  de  Bassompierre.  Ed.  1665,  I.  p.  222.  In  this  attractive  little 
edition  the  "Journal  de  ma  vie"  forms  three  volumes,  four  in  the  reprint  of  1723 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  191 

towards  women,  and  manners  of  a  past  school  which  he  could  not 
be  persuaded  to  abandon,  and  which  seemed  out  of  place  in  an  age 
when  "  unbridled  ambition  and  avarice  " — the  change  in  moral  and 
social  tone  is  ascribed  largely  to  Mazarine  influence — "  passed  for  the 
greatest  virtues  among  the  highest  nobility."  The  new  generation, 
ripening  for  the  "  grand  "  gilt  and  stucco  reign,  was  doubtless  harder 
and  more  artificial,  and  in  a  way,  less  communicative  than  that  from 
which  Henri  Quatre  chose  the  familiar  companions,  upon  whose 
shoulders  he  hung  while  rallying  them  upon  their  superstitious 
timidity. 

Not  that  the  materials  of  history,  the  history  of  an  age  in  which 
literature  became  "  a  chorus  in  praise  of  royalty  " — were  ever  more 
plentiful.  De  Motteville  herself,  the  patient  lady  in  waiting — first  of 
the  numerous  series  of  domestic  chroniclers  of  French  monarchy  and 
empire,  continued  to  our  own  time  in  the  persons  of  the  Duchess 
d'Abrantes,  wife  of  General  Junot  and  intimate  of  the  great  Napoleon, 
and  de  Gontaut,  whose  memoirs  have  just  appeared  in  English 
(1894) — de  Motteville,  with  her  mild  wonder  at  the  caprices  of  her 
distinguished  employers,  what  would  she  have  thought  of  the  scenes 
reserved  for  Mme.  de  Campan !  Then  again  we  have  the  dignified 
and  classical  Rochefoucauld,^  the  light-hearted  and  theatrical  De 
Retz,  now  saving  the  state,  now  escaping  from  prison  or  assas- 
sination, the  Marquis  de  La  Fare  with  his  sensational  account 
of  La  Brinvilliers  and  the  "Poison  chamber"  (8vo,  1734),  the 
conspirator  Montresor  (well  known  in  his  two  Elzevirian  "  twelves,") 
and  the  confidential  Pierre  de  la  Porte  (1603-1680)  valet 
de  chambre,  and — one  could  have  wished — tutor  and  governor 
of  the   spoilt    little    "  Grand   Monarque " — for  what   a    picture   is 

^  Who  is  to  be  read  in   Renouard's  beautiful  edition,  with  the  portraits  of 
Mazarin,  Conde,  and  the  rest.     Sm.  8vo,  '■'■papier  Jin,"  1804  {imprimerie  dt 
Crapelet).     The  Memoires  de  M.  D.  L.  R.  (not  to  be  confused  with  the  spttrioit 
memoirs  of  the  Comte  de   Rochefort)  dated  Cologne  {i.e.  Foppens,  Brussels,^ 
1662 — in  which  form  the  work  first  appeared — are  of  no  value,  and  full  of  mis 
prints  owing,  as  we  are  told,  to  "  the  impatience  of  the  public." 


192  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

his  of  the  poor  lonely  child  craving  for  affection,  and  as  yet  so 
amenable  to  reason,  growing  up  in  that  malarious  atmosphere  of 
flattery,  corruption,  and  espionage  in  which  "good  books  were 
regarded  with  as  much  suspicion  as  honest  people  "  !  ^ 

Such  was  the  court  atmosphere  of  that  long  reign.  When  the  pro- 
fligate Abbd  de  Choisy  (F^nelon's  contemporary)  was  writing  one  of 
his  moral  and  improving  manuals  of  history  about  Charles  IX.,  the 
little  Duke  of..  Burgundy  confronted  him  with  a  puzzling  inquiry 
^'  How  will  you  manage  to  say  that  the  king  was  mad?"  There  was, 
however,  at  least  one  individual  living  through  all  this  period,  and  at 
court,  who  literally  did  not  mind  making  any  observation  suggested 
by  its  singular  phenomena,  and  this  was  Charlotte  Elizabeth  of 
Bavaria,  Duchess  of  Orleans,  and  mother  of  "  the  Regent,"  who,  dying 
in  1722  at  the  age  of  seventy,  saw  enough  both  of  the  Most  Christian 
King  and  of  her  own  son  to  appreciate  the  general  drift  of  French  life 
-and  politics.  She  was,  as  we  are  told  by  St.  Simon — the  gossipping 
St.  Simon  whose  inaccuracies  she  once  or  twice  corrects — a  coarse, 
rough,  unsociable,  and  unpolished,  but  good-hearted  creature,  and 
what  remains  of  the  immense  budgets  of  news  she  was  always  writing 
to  her  distinguished  relatives  in  Germany,  is  not  in  all  cases  suited  to 
the  drawing-room  table.  The  reader  who  is  anxious  to  know  the 
worst,  should  consult  M.  Brunet's  admirable  (French)  edition  (Paris, 
1855)  the  German  collections  of  the  eighteenth  century  being  all  im- 
perfect. It  is  she,  by  the  way,  who  tells  us,  at  second  hand,  not  con- 
tent with  blackening  the  character  of  her  own  generation,  that  Saint 
Francis  de  Sales  used  to  cheat  at  cards !  Possibly  he  never  did, 
although  Victor  Hugo  in  a  coruscating  paragraph  of  Les  Miserables 
avers  that  it  was  the  great  secret  of  his  popularity. 

The  papers  of  the  excellent  Marquis  d'Argenson,  who  discovered 

to  the  French  court  of  1744  the  "entirely  original  and  undeveloped 

business  "  of  honesty,  consist  of  most  valuable  political  and  literary 

notes  on  the  events  of  his  time  (1694-175 7),  a  work  to  be  studied  of 

'  Mem.  de  La  Porte.     i2mo.  Geneve,  1756,  p.  253. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  193 

course  in  connection  with  Duclos,  the  vast  St.  Simon,  who  really 
wastes  a  good  deal  of  the  reader's  time,  the  correspondence  of 
Grimm,  Diderot  &  Cie.,  and  the  ubiquitous  Voltaire.  Besides 
the  remark  cited  above,  concerning  Sully,  he  tells  us  (ed.  1825, 
p.  233)  that  the  Choisy  Memoirs  as  printed  at  Utrecht,  1747,  are  really 
only  excerpts  ("  lafleur  de  mon  manuscrit")  from  a  larger  collection 
of  his  own,  taken  down  from  his  kinsman  the  Abbd's  dictation  by 
d'Argenson  himself,  and  stolen  by  Olivet,  the  historian  of  the  French 
Academy. 

The  authorship  of  the  memoir,  it  may  here  be  observed, 
especially  of  that  which  has  no  preface,  is  too  often  a  matter  of 
mystery  and  fraud.  The  atmosphere  of  absolute  monarchy  was 
frequently  found  insalubrious  to  authors  of  an  inquiring  spirit.  They 
wielded  the  pen  in  unwholesome  dread  of  one  of  those  upper  cham- 
bers in  the  Bastille  where,  nevertheless,  Bassompierre  found  a  quiet 
place  for  writing,  though  Bussy-Rabutin  could  only  read  or  think  of 
•'  horrors."  Hence  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Dutch 
press  became,  as  Macaulay  says,  "  the  most  formidable  engine  by 
which  the  public  mind  of  Europe  was  moved  " ;  and  many  a  more 
veracious  record  than  those  of  M.  d'Artagnan  (utilized,  so  Alexandre 
Dumas  assures  us,  in  the  production  of  his  never-dying  Musketeers)^ 

*  Possibly  more  than  one  reader  of  the  preface  of  Les  Trots  Mousquetaires — 
"  dans  laquelle  il  est  etabli  que  les  heros  de  I'histoire  ....  n'ont  rien  de 
mythologique "  may  have  concluded  that  the  work  there  referred  to,  Les 
Mdmoires  de  M.  (tArtagnan — Amsterdam.  Chez  Pierre  Rouge  (no  date  given) 
was  apocryphal.  The  full  description,  which  M.  Dumas  perhaps  quoted  from 
memory,  we  here  give  from  the  catalogue  (1894)  of  a  Parisian  bookseller.  Mi- 
moires  de  M.  ifArtagnan,  Capitaine-lieutetiant  de  la  ire  Compagnie  des  Mousque- 
taires du  Roy,  contenant  quantity  de  choses  particuliires  et  secrettes  qui  se  sont 
passies  sous  le  rigne  de  Louis  le  Grand.  I'joo.  3  vols  in  12.  (Anglice,  8vo.  ?> 
Veau  pi.  Rare.  25  fr.  An  order  despatched  by  return  of  post  failed  to  secure 
this  treasure.  Charles  de  Bats,  Comte  d'Artagnan  [pb.  1673)  "a  creature  of  the 
ate  Cardinal "  was  the  officer  who  arrested  Fouquet.  Mhn.  de  Motteville. 
Ed.  1783,  vi.  82.  Mim.  de  Choisy,  p.  177.  Prosper  Marchand  in  a  note  to  Bayle's 
Lettres  Choisies  (p.  653)  classes  the  Memoirs  with  those  of  Rochefort  as  one  of 

O 


194  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

found  a  publisher,  and  a  more  or  less  "Elzevirian"  printer 
in  Amsterdam  or  the  flourishing  suburbs  of  "  Villafranca "  and 
"  Alethopolis."  1  Later  in  fact,  the  thing  became  a  nuisance,  one 
Courtilz  de  Sandras  (1644-17 12)  having  established  somewhere  Jn 
the  Low  Countries,  a  sort  of  memoir-factory,  and  inundated  Europe 
(when  not  imprisoned  in  the  fortress  above  mentioned)  with  the  pro- 
ductions of  his  all  too  facile  pen.  So  we  read  in  the  Sihle  de  Louis  XV 
To  such  reproaches  an  obvious  reply  would  be  thai  Coligny,  Turenne 
the  C  (omte)  de  R  (ochefort),  and  the  other  victims  of  these  outrages 
in  duodecimo  really  lived  and  had  adventures  of  their  own.  If  they 
did  not  choose  to  record  them,  was  that  the  fault  of  M.  de  Sandras 
(who  was  very  likely  the  first  personal  interviewer),  or  a  reason  why 
he  did  not  slake  the  public  thirst  for  information  ? 

Anonymous  or  pseudonymous  libels  of  the  eighteenth  century  are 
more  easily  classed,  the  onus  being,  so  to  speak,  upon  all.  such  to 
prove  to  the  reader  that  they  were  not  written  by  Voltaire,  who 
appears  in  as  many  cowtries  tmd  under  as  many  names  as  the  great 
twin  brethren,  though  content,  while'  printing  his  Lettres  sur  les 
Anglois  (about  which  the  Basle  and  London  booksellers  quarrel  so) 
at  a  "small  town  in  Normandy,"  to  venture  on  occasional  visits  to 
Rouen  in  the  disguise  of  the  "  Comte  de  Revol,"  or  of  a:  Milor 
Anglais. 

those  historical. romances  the  nature  and  quantity  of  whicb  were  becoming  a  serious 
danger  to  history.    : 

1  Bayle's  great  work  on  tolerance  ( Commentaire  Philos.  sur  ces  Paroles  dt  Jisus 
Christ  contrains-les  (fentrer,  &c.,  which,  according  to  the  best  authority,  represents 
more  than  any  other  "the  foundation  of  modern  Rationalism,"  and  about 
which  he  was  naturally  rather  nervous,  hails  from  "Cantorberry :  traduit  de 
I'Anglois  de  Sieur  Jean  Fox  de  Bruges  par  M.  J.  F.,"  and  he  even  alludes  to  it 
in  a  letter  to  I'Enfant  (Mar.  3,  1688)  as  a  curious  result  of  the  '■'■  d^mangeaison. 
diviprimer"  affecting  the  London  press.  See  the  Lettres  Choisies,  pp.  238 
and  513.  The  second  edition  (Rotterdam.  3  vols.  8vo.  1713),  bearing  the 
author's  name,  is  far  preferable  to  the  first  (which  is  very  incorrect)  and  contains 
also  the  important  introductory  tract — "  Ce  queerest  que  la  France  tout e  Catholique 
sous  le  rigne  de  Louisk  Grand"         .       - 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS. 


195 


And  of  Ms  Memoirs  (though  equally  concerning  Frederick  the 
Great  and  the  principal  powers  of  Europe)  Scrips  par  lui-mtme,  in 
that  fascinating  thin  8vo.  volume  of  1784,  on  papier  bleu^  with 
their  cosmopolitan  jokes,  their  three  "suites"  dated  from  the 
"  Ddlices,"  and  their  parting  shot  at  the  ecclesiastical  order — may  we 
not  say  that  their  perusal  is  a  liberal  education  in — the  last  century  ? 
With  these  should  betaken  Duvernet's charming  Vie privee et politique 


Portrait  of  Voltaire — ITaprii  nature  far  Joseph  Vemet  d.  la  stance  de  FAcadimie  Franfaise. 
ou  Voltaire  est  venu  siiger pour  la  demiire/ois  en  ijjS.  Frontispiece  to  Lettres  inidites, 
1818.  To  the  Life  by  "T.  J.  D.  V."  is  prefixed  a  facsimile  of  Voltaire's  extremely  clear 
and  regular  handwriung. 

de  M.  de\Voltaire,  suivie  iT anecdotes   (Svo.   1797),  and   the   Lettres 
in'edites  (18 18)*  containing  that  excellent  crayon  portrait  of  the  old 

^  It  is  excusable  perhaps  to  prize  these  two  library  editions  (uniform  in  respect- 
able half  morocco)  more  than  any  historical  work  in  one's  possession,  even  of  the 
completest  modem  type.  A  special  attraction  of  the  letters  here  printed  is  that 
several  contain  in  brackets  passages  excised  "  by  order  "  from  the  Kehl  edition. 

Of  Voltaire's  goodness  of  heart  one  "anecdote"  may  be  recalled,  that  of  the 
proud  but  impecunious  young  officer  staying  with  the  wealthy  proprietor  of  Ferney, 

O  2 


196  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

man  they  compel  us  to  love,  as  he  last  appeared  at  the  Academy 
seance  of  1778. 

The  thought  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  reflection  that  some 
one  is  (we  believe)  about  to  publish  a  new  life  of  the  Chevalier 
d'Eon,  revives  our  regret  that  Caron  de  Beaumarchais,  the  greatest 
"character"  of  the  pre-Revolutionary  period,  did  not  leave  us 
Memoirs  of  his  "  Life  and  Times"  ^  as  distinguished  from  the  Memoir 
or  two  (a  different  matter)  which  he  has  left,  and  in  which,  as  one 
critic  observes,  "all  his  enemies  appear  exactly  as  ridiculous  and  odious 
as  he  pleased,  being  led  upon  the  novel  platform  of  a  quasi-legal 
manifesto  like  so  many  strange  animals  merely  existing  for  the  reader's 
diversion."  One  contemporary  even  observed,  with  a  malign  admira- 
tion, "  If  Beaumarchais  demanded  half  my  fortune,  threatening  as 
alternative  to  write  a  memoir  about  me  (in  the  style,  that  is,  of 
L' affaire  Goezmann)  I  should  give  it  up  to  him  sur  le  champ." 

But  let  us  keep  to  the  subject  in  hand.     Voltaire,  not  to  dwell 

and  practically  unable  to  return  to  his  regiment.  "  Permettez,"  said  M.  de  V. 
"  qu'un  de  mes  chevaux  pour  se  former,  fasse  la  route  avec  vous,"  and,  slipping  a 
purse  into  his  hand,  "  je  vous  prie  de  vouloir  bien  vous  charger  de  sa  nourriture" 
(Vie,  p.  393)- 

As  to  the  omissions  the  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  addressed  to  Mme. 
la  Comtesse  de  Lutzelbourg,"  and  dated  "  Aux  Delices,  pres  de  Geneve,  23  Juillet, 
1759"  :  "Je  plains  fort  ceux  qui  ont  les  maisons  de  campagne  a  Louisbourg.  lis 
s'en  sont  defait,  comme  vous  savez,  en  faveur  <ies  Anglais  qui  sont  maitres  de  I'lle 
[de  la  ville,  de  la  gamison,  de  nos  vaisseaux]  &c.  II  ne  nous  restera  bientot  plus 
rien  dans  I'Amerique  septentrionale.  Mais  afin  de  ne  point  falre  de  jaloux,  ils 
vont  caresser  toutes  nos  cotes  de  France,  les  unes  apres  les  autres.  Vous  savez  que 
la  desolation  de  Paris  est  grande  non  parceque  Louisbourg  est  pris  :  non  parceque 
nous  sommes  battus  partout  et  que  nous  allons  I'etre  encore  ;  mais  parcequ'on 
manque  d'argent  et  qu'on  craint  de  nouveaux  impots.  On  a  du  moins  le  plaisir  de  se 
plaindre  et  de  crier  contre  tous  ceux  qui  conduisent  notre  mauvaise  barque  " — but 
even  this  pleasure  could  not  always  be  enjoyed  in  public. 

^  The  defect  is  to  some  extent  supplied  by  Cousin  d'Avallon's  entertaining  Vi 
privie,  politique  liltiraire  de  Beaumarchais,  suivie  (T anecdotes,  bon  mots,  &'c.  (with 
a  fine  portrait  by  Cochin)  sm.  8vo.  " papier  d/eu."  1802.  Not  a  very  common 
book,  and  only  recently  added  to  the  Library  of  the  British  Museum. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  «'  MEMOIRS."  197 

upon  an  inexhaustible  subject,  sums  up  in  a  unique  degree  the 
greatest  interests  of  his  time,  but,  for  reasons  beside  what  he  himself 
tells  us  of  the  precarious  arrival  of  MSS.,  &c.,  we  do  not  pin  our 
faith  to  such  works  as  his  History  of  Russia.  Rulhibre's  Anecdotes  of 
the  Revolution  of  1762,  appended  to  his  Histoire  deVAnarchie  de 
Fologne  (4  vols.  8vo.  Paris,  1807)  are  better  worth  reading,  for 
Rulhibre  was  on  the  spot,  at  the  French  Legation. 

To  realise  the  true  inwardness  of  any  great  epoch  or  incident  the 
student  should  run  his  eye  over  a  chronological  chart,  and  inquire 
first  who  was  living  at  the  time  who  could  have  known,  and  of  these 
who  did  know  the  facts,  or  even  bore  the  same  relation  to  them  as 
^neas  did  to  the  Trojan  War. 

Among  these  a  high  place  must  be  given  to  those  writers  (includ- 
ing many  a  retired  statesman  and  politician)  who  knew  "  every  one 
worth  knowing,"  and  viewed  things  in  general  from  a  familiar  and 
independent  point  of  view,  of  whom  the  most  famous  in  English 
history  is  beyond  doubt  Horace  Walpole,  fourth  Earl  of  Orford 
{171 7 — 1 797),  who,  to  the  superficial  eye  often  appears  a  mere  "  person 
of  quality  "  dallying  elegantly,  as  indeed  he  did  dally,  with  "  Letters," 
remaining  none  the  less  a  man  of  wide  culture  and  acute  observa- 
tion, perhaps  "  fit  to  live,"  according  to  the  Chesterfield  standard. 
At  the  bottom  of  a  particularly  entertaining  page  of  eighteenth 
century  history  it  is  five  to  one  that  we  find  the  familiar  reference 
^*  Walpole  to  Manny  Posterity  has  reason  to  be  thankful  that  Sir 
Horace  Mann  (whose  answers  were  too  dull  for  publication)  was  so 
frequently  away  from  England  as  to  appreciate  the  smallest  details  of 
social  and  political  news.  And  what  with  the  Memoirs  of  George 
II.  (first  published  1822)  and  of  George  HL,  edited  by  Sir  D. 
Marchant  in  1845,  the  nine  volumes  of  correspondence  ("Walpole's 
incomparable  Letters"  as  Byron  calls  them)  with  Mann,  Lord  Hertford, 
and  others  published  by  Mr.  Cunningham  in  1857  (and  covering  a 
period  from  1735  to  lygy  \),  the  Reminiscences,  the  journals,  the 
Hasty  Productions,  the  Occasional  Thoughts  and  the  polemical  tracts, 


198  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

it  may  be  doubted  if  Mme.  de  Sevigne  and  Saint  Simon  together 
could  have  left  a  livelier  picture  of  half  a  century  of  national  life,  though 
we  may  regret  that  it  is  diffused  over  so  many  spacious  volumes. 

But  one  cannot  quite  agree  with  the  great  essayist  (who  asks 
in  the  chapter  cited  above — "What  can  we  expect  of  a  doctor 
writing  on  war  ?  ")  that  specialists  of  any  kind  are  the  best  memoir- 
writers.  His  admired  Froissart  had  little  special  knowledge,  but  an 
omnivorous  curiosity,  and  there  is  many  a  volume  of  "  lay  "  journal 
or  biography  the  author  of  which  at  least  admirably  hitches  on  the 
Events  of  History  to  his  own  private  affairs,  interests,  and  amusements, 
which,  like  the  Lucretian  hooked  particles,  serve  to  attach  them  to 
our  own  minds. 

Can  we  not  "  see  from  here  "  that  immortal  trovatore  Cellini  com- 
ing home  from  shooting  on  that  day  in  Epiphany,  1537,  with  the  gun 
{"  same  which  I  shot  Captain  Bourbon,"  perhaps)  that  never  missed, 
across  his  saddle,  and  the  excellent  hound  Barruccio  at  his  heels, 
chatting  cheerfully  to  young  Felice  Guadagni-poco  ?  Messer  Benvenuto 
is  a  little  worried,  it  is  true,  about  the  medallion  he  is  busily  executing 
for  Alexander  Medici,  Duke  of  Florence  by  the  grace  of  Charles  V. 
Lorenzino  (and  here  the  reader  shall  open  his  Cojnedies  et 
Proverbesoi  De  Musset,  ist  ed.  p.  53.)  had  repeatedly  undertaken  to 
send  him  the  design  for  the  other  face  of  the  work,  and  not  sent  it, 
and  Cellini  is  impatiently  expecting  each  day  the  long  promised 
"  reverse  of  the  medal." 

Meanwhile,  the  hard-worked  artificer  must  have  air  and  exercise ; 
having  enjoyed  which  this  evening,  he  intends  to  shoot  no  more. 
But  up  get  those  two  irresistible  geese  out  of  the  ditch,  bang  goes 
the  unerring  weapon,  and  both  fowls  are  bagged,  of  course,  with  a 
little  trouble  and  the  help  of  Barruccio.  But  this  takes  time ;  more- 
over, the  sportsman  gets  into  a  dyke  and  sticks  in  the  mud,  and  one 
of  his  high  riding  boots  is  filled  with  water,  and  he  has  to  sit  down, 
as  incautious  waders  do,  and  wave  his  foot  "  in  the  air "  to  let  the 
water  run  out.    Then  riding  home  he  catches  rheumatics,  must  needs 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS."  199 

Stop  and  get  Felice  to  light  a  fire  to  dry  him.  In  fine,  it  is  evening 
as  they  ride  into  Rome ;  and  what  is  that  strange  fire  in  the  sky  over 
Florence  ?  (This  one  presumes  to  have  been  a  vision.)  Ah  !  He 
will  know  the  next  day  when  couriers  come  in,  post  haste,  to  tell  that 
the  cry  in  Florence  is  "  Down  with  dukes  ! "  that  young  Lorenzaccio 
has  "  executed  "  the  tyrant  Alexander  himself,  who  will  therefore  not 
need  to  be  immortalised  by  the  cunning  hand  of  Cellini,  and  that 
this  is  the  promised  "  reverse  of  the  medal ! "  " 

It  would  be  idle  to  inquire  how  many  of  th6se  intensely  interesting 
details  are  positively  authentic,  whether  Benvenuto  really  saw  sala- 
manders in  the  fire,  or  actually  wounded  the  Prince  of  Orange — unless, 
perhaps,  we  could  have  approached  the  author  in  one  of  those  rare 
moments  of  penitence  and  depression  when,  after  reading  "the  Bible 
arid  the  Chronicles  of  Villani,"  nothing  less  than  an  angelic  mes- 
senger dissuaded  him  (ii.  1 8)  from  committing  suicide  !  ^  How 
many  such  tableaux  vivants — so  easy  to  observe,  so  difficult  to 
forget — have  not  these  interesting  and  confidential  persons  pre- 
sented to  us  in  their  passionate  desire  not  to  go  to  the  grave 
forgotten  and  unknown!  How  varied  in  colouring  and  interest 
are  the  life-scapes  preserved  in  their  gallery — from  the  nameless 
iniquities  of  a  Borgian  Palace  so  respectfully  recorded  for  us  in 
the  diary  of  the  Grand  Chamberlain  of  Alexander  VI., ^  to  the 
latest  Frenchified  gossip  of    a  court  lady  of  our  own  respectable 


^  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  this  most  famous  of  autobiographies  was  never  pub- 
lished till  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  author's  death.  Begun  in  1559,  as  he  tells 
us  (iv.  10)  and  carried  as  far  as  1566,  it  first  appeared  in  an  (incorrect)  undated 
quarto,  bearing  the  well-known  imprint  "  Colonia.  Pietro  Martello."  Of  this  a 
counterfeit  was  produced  at  Florence  1 792.  - 

^  The  complete  Latin  text  oljohn  Burchard's  Diary  of  the  Times  of  Innocent  jf. ,//  v 
Alexander  VI. ,  Pius  HI.  and  Julius  II. ,  of  which  Leibnitz  gave  the  public  a  taste 
in  his  Specimen  Historice  Arcana,  sive  Anecdota  de  Vitd  Alexandri  VI.  PafxE  (a  title 
doubtless  suggested  by  Procopius).  410.  Hanoverae,  1696,  has  now  been  published. 
Florence,  1854.  Ed.  A.  Gennarelli.  For  other  contemporary  accounts  of  the 
final  tragedy  in  the  Vatican  garden  (Aug.  17,  1503)  see  Guiccardini,  and  Paolo 


200  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

century ;  from  the  letters  of  the  suffering  but  hopeful  Galileo  ^  to  the 
memoirs  of  a  persecuted  modern  Radical ;  ^  from  the  casual  notes  of 
the  vivacious  and  cosmopolitan  Howell  to  the  domestic  and  political 
register  cyphered  up  every  evening  by  the  unfortunate  Mr.  Samuel 
Pepys,  of  whose  private  character  we  have  now,  it  may  be  hoped, 
//(^ciphered  the  worst.  Historians  of  their  own,  and  more  or  less  of 
other  people's  *' own  times,"  like  the  Emperor  Tiberius  Claudius, 
whose  work  (in  eight  volumes,  as  Suetonius  tells  us)  has  unfortunately 
perished,  or  Frederick  the  Great,^  or  Leonardo  Aretino,**  or  Mr.  Justin 
McCarthy,  biographers  and  autobiographers,  writers  of  memoirs 
proper  and  familiar  letters,  social,  political,  personal,  and  topical,^ 


Giovio.  The  latter  mentions  the  wine  treated  with  the  Borgian  white  powder 
which  was  handed  to  Alexander  VI.  by  the  mistake  of  an  under -butler.  Guic- 
ciardini,  with  an  awful  impartiality,  gives  a  similar  account  as  that  which  "was 
generally  believed,"  the  practice  of  poisoning  superfluous  cardinals  and  rich  people 
being  so  notorious. 

^  z'.  Fabroni,  Lettere  inedite  di  uoinini  illusiri.     2  vols.  8vo.    Firenze,  1773-5. 

2  Bamford's  Passages  in  the  Life  of  a  Radical  first  printed  by  and  at  Heywood. 
n.  d.  {1841-2). 

^  Histoire  de  mon  temps,  and  (to  some  extent)  the  better  known  Mimoires  de 
Brandebotirg  [3,\ec  suite  "  de  main  de  maitre,"  1750).  Voltaire  by  the  way  tells 
us  {Mimoires,  ed.  1784,  p.  24)  that  the  thankless  author  inserted  a  libellous 
portrait  of  his  preserver  Seckendorf  into  some  thirty  copies  of  this  latter  work. 
Does  the  reader  possess  one  of  these  ?  M.  de  V.  made  a  present  of  his  to  the 
Elector  Palatine. 

•*  Note  that  the  work  entitled  in  the  Italian  edition  (4to,  Venet.  1561), 
Istoria  universale  de"  suoi  tempi  is  the  "  history"  and  not  the  "  memoir  "  left  us 
by  Leon.  Bruni  d'Arezzo  (1364-1444).  The  latter  is  a  minute  work  entitled 
"  Commentarius  rerum  suo  tempore  gestarum,"  or  in  the  rare  Ital.  sm.  8vo. 
(Venet.  I545)»  -Delle  Guerre  fatte  nelli  suoi  tempi,  e  degli  huomini famosi. 

*  Under  this  head  would  fall  for  example  that  singular  work  (unique  as  a  picture 
of  signorial  tyranny  and  provincial  misery)  Esprit  Flechier's  Mimoires  sur  les 
Gratids  Jours  cTAuvergne  en  1665  (ed.  Cheruel,  with  notice  by  Ste.  Beuve,  and 
index,  2nd  ed.  8vo,  1862) — or  Edmund  Spenser's  invaluable  "  View  of  the  State 
of  Ireland"  (cir.  1596)  first  published  1633  (^vo,  Dublin,  1767),  and  in  some 
modem  editions  appended  to  his  poetical  works.      His  reflections   on    "the 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  201 

who  shall  enumerate  their  infinite  variety?  Besides  the  memoir 
strictly  so  called,  would  there  not  be  something  to  be  said  of  the  flitting 
and  birdseye  view  of  men  and  things  preserved  for  us  in  those  records  of 
travel  which  when  well  written  (and  illustrated)  are  perhaps  the  most 
attractive  of  all  reading  ?  Unfortunately  they  run  to  bulk.  In  the 
mind's  eye  one  sees  them,  long  shelves  of  folios  and  quartos — extra 
volumes  stuffed  with  maps  and  plates ;  the  classics  of  Cook,  Anson, 
and  the  other  industrious  navigators  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
earlier  records  stored  up  in  the  vast  and  costly  collections  of  Hak- 
luyt,  Purchas,  and  Ramusio ;  ^  all  varieties  of  character  and  country, 
from  the  romantic  and  entertaining  letters  of  Pietro  della  Valle,  to 
the  business-like  travels  in  (and  all  round)  Revolutionary  France  ^  of 

successive  governors  adopting  different  policies  out  of  jealousy  of  one  another" 
have  quite  a  pathetic  interest  for  the  nineteenth  century  reader. 

^  The  most  famous  collections  would  seem  to  be  the  following  : — 

Hakluyt  Richd. — Principall  Navigations,  Voiages  and  discoveries  of  the  English 
Nation.     3  vols.  fol.     1598-9.     1600. 

De  Bry, — Collectiones  Peregrinationum  in  Indiani  Occidentalem  et  Orient- 
^lem.  7  or  8  vols.  fol.  1590-1634  (a  work  the  full  description  of  which  occupies 
50  columns  of  close  print  in  Brunei's  Manual  of  Bibliography). 

Purchas. — Hist,  of  the  World  in  Sea  Voyages  and  La7id  Travells,  &'c.  5  vols, 
fol.     1625-6. 

Pamiisio. — Raccolta  delle  Navigationi  e  Viaggi.  3  vols.  fol.  1563-5  ^"^^  ^S^S 
{and  a  supplement  of  1606). 

In  historical  interest  however  these  are  perhaps  surpassed  by  one  little  volume, 
the  Historia  Vinlandice  Antiqua  seu  partis  America  septentrionalis  (sm.  8vo, 
Havniae,  1707:  priced  ;^8  by  Mr.  Quaritch),  which' contains  an  account  of  the 
•discovery  and  colonization  of  part  of  North  America  by  Norsemen  at  the  end  of 
the  tenth  century.     The  fact  is  also  mentioned  by  Adam  of  Bremen. 

The  correct  text  concerning  Cook  was  never  printed  till  a  year  or  two  ago. 

2  Cited  in  Disraeli  Curios.  Lit.  for  the  early  account  of  coffee  as  a  beverage. 
These  letters,  though  their  form,  chronology,  &c.  (like  that  of  Howell's)  is  doubtless 
unreliable,  are  of  considerable  value  and  interest.  They  were  first  published  at 
Rome,  4  vols.  4to,  1650-63,  and  there  is  an  8vo  ed.  of  about  the  same  date, 
also  a  recent  and  readable  reprint  (of  which  I  have  a  copy)  printed  at  Brighton 
2  vols.  8vo,   1843. 


202  A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS." 

the  agricultural  Arthur  Young.  All  these,  all  first-hand  records  of 
original  observation  and  experience,  are  in  their  way  to  be  classed  as 
memoirs.  Alas  !  that  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  that  monument  of 
early  English,  the  "Voiage  and  Travaile  of  Sir  John  Mandeville." 
The  author  or  compiler — for  Sir  John  himself  is  now  dismissed  as  a 
not  merely  imaginative  but  imaginary  individual — probably  never 
travelled  further  than  to  the  nearest  bookseller's  shop,  where, 
having  secured  a  second-hand  MS.  of  Pliny  (and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  this  fact)  he  sat  himself  down  to  indite  a  work  destined  to 
prove  that  the  "mynde  of  man,"  at  least  of  mediaeval  man, 
"may  not,"  as  he  mysteriously  assures  us,  "be  comprehended  or 
withholden." 

The  mention  of  travels  suggests  another  and  a  rarer  class  of  per- 
sonal record.  At  least  one  famous  author  and  general,  Don  Alonzo 
Ercilla  y  Zuniga  (i 525-1 595),  has  left  us  a  contemporary  account  in 
verse^\}ci\x's>  reverting  to  mediaeval  fashion — of  his  exploits  and  dis- 
coveries. The  "  Araucana,"  ^  which  Cervantes  thought  one  of  the 
finest  poems  in  the  Spanish  language,  was,  as  the  author  expressly 
tells  us,  written  up  nightly  like  the  Pepysian  Diary,  and  has  doubtless 
an  importance  to  students  of  the  early  history  of  Chili.  Yet,  however 
wonderful  as  a  literary  feat,  the  book  cannot  be  recommended  as  an 
entertaining  work. 

Isolated  epigrams,  indeed,  short  topical  poems,  and  what  may  be 
called  "  metrical  tracts,"  often  possess  in  a  high  degree  the  virtue 
assigned  above  to  the  ideal  epistle,  and  arouse  proportionate  interest. 
Such,  for  example,  are  the  verses  of  the  enlightened  Chancellor 
L'Hospital  upon  various  incidents  in  the  civil  wars  of  his  time,  the 

*  It  was  first  printed  1578-90,  and  there  is  an  excellent  edition  with  portrait  and 
plates,  2  vols.  8vo,  Madrid,  1776.  Of  the  works  of  Camoens  a  "fort  jolie 
edition"  was  printed  by  P.  Didot,  5  vols.  i2mo,  1814-5.  The  Lusiads  is 
of  course  a  work  of  greater  historical  (and  indirectly  autobiographical)  interest, 
poetic  beauty  in  fact  being  often  sacrificed  to  precision. 


A  MEDLEY  OF  "  MEMOIRS."  203 

capture  of  Metz,  of  Calais,  or  of  Thionville,  and  the  marriage  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  to  Francis  II.i  But  the  practical  reader  can  content 
himself  with  the  complete  edition  of  only  a  few  years  later — Epistolce 
seu  Sermones,  8vo,  1592  ;  and  the  best  are  to  be  found  with  the 
"  Franciscanus  "  of  Buchanan,  and  the  epigrams  of  Turnebus  in  other 
contemporary  collections  {e.g.,  Basilese,  1572).  These  opuscula,  like 
prose  pamphlets,  are  usually  of  moderate  length.  But  if  an  epic 
poem  can  ever  take  the  place  of  a  memoir  or  journal,  it  is  no  natural 
example  of  the  genus,  which  should  be  untrammelled  by  artistic  or 
other  conventions,  and,  as  has  been  said,  pre-eminently  readable. 

This  does  not  mean  that  it  is  our  duty,  even  when  it  may  be  our 
pleasure,  to  devour  them  whole. 

There  are  of  course  books  to  be  gnawed  like  bones,  books  to  be 
swallowed  whole,  and  books  of  which  the  cream  should  be  judiciously 
skimmed.  In  our  privileged  dialogues  with  the  great,  the  virtuous,  and 
the  wicked  dead,  we  need  not  choose  to  hear  all  they  have  to  say. 
But  to  know  people  we  must  go  among  them. 

The  memoir  is  essentially  a  rich  pasture  ground  for  intelligent 
grazing.  That  study  of  individual  lives,  of  social  atmospheres,  which 
does  so  much  to  "  people  the  centuries  "  easily  and  effectively  for  us, 
has  for  its  object  the  priceless,  but  not  superficially  demonstrable 
knowledge  of  the  great  "  might  have  been,"  ancestor,  after  all,  of  the 
greater  "  may  be  "  ;  the  philosophy  of  what  we  will  call  "  the  imper- 
turbably  probable."  Children,  and  schoolboys  who  have  not  shaken 
off  the  severe  candour  of  infancy  are  often  secretly  exasperated  at 
the  importance  assigned  by  historians  and  preceptors  (who  appear  too 
much  to  have  the  political  game — the  sum  and  the  answer — in  their 

^  Five  or  six  of  these  pieces,  in  4to,  of  from  five  to  ten  leaves  apiece,  in  one 
volume  I  see  priced  in  a  Parisian  catalogue  at  30  and  40  fr.  All  are  described  as 
very  rare,  and  the  four  leaves  "  In  Francisci  Delphini  et  Maria  sereniss.  Scotorum 
Hegirue  nuptias  amplissimi  viri  M.  H.  carmen,"  (1560)  as  "the  rarest  tract  in 
existence  concerning  that  unfortunate  princess." 


204  A  MEDLEY  OF  "MEMOIRS." 

own  hands)  to  "  events  "  which  succeeded  in  happening  only,  so  to 
speak,  "  by  the  skin  of  their  teeth."  Upon  such  minds  is  keenly 
borne  in,  in  after  life,  the  joy  of  hammering  and  chipping  for  them- 
selves in  what,  in  spite  of  its  complex  "  faults  "  and  delusive  varieties, 
is  after  all,  the  bed-rock  of  history,  of  grubbing  and  quarrying  in  that 
ground-soil  of  human  nature  out  of  which  "  events,"  "institutions," 
and  "  systems "  arise,  and  into  which  their  debris  are  eternally 
•decaying. 


VI. 
WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

(1536.) 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 
(1536.) 

1st  irgend  eine  Hoelle  so  muss  Rom  darauf  gebaut  seyn." 

Martin  Luther. 

ERHAPS  it  might  safely  be  asserted  that  few  of  the 
readers  who  now  and  then  unbend  (Hke  the  late  Mr. 
Browning)  over  a  jolly  chapter  of  Rabelais,  are 
equally  acquainted  with  that  humorous  author's  cor- 
respondence, which  has  indeed  not  descended  to  us 
in  proportions  sufficient  to  command  attention. 

But  these  few  familiar  epistles — addressed  almost  exclusively  to 
Geoffrey  d'Estissac,  Bishop  and  Baron  of  Maillezais-^have  always 
been  prized  by  the  curious,  more  especially  since  the  appearance  in 
the  year  17 10  of  Sainte  Marthe's  profusely  annotated  edition,^  which 
has  supplied  such  a  mine  of  wealth  to  modern  editors. 

The  letters  of  an  original  writer  in  his  native  tongue  are  generally 
worth  reading,  and  those  of  Rabelais,  besides  the  usual  details 
of  "  humkn  interest,"  give  a  sort  of  back  view  of  various  events  and 
negotiations  not  beneath  the  dignity  of  history.  One  could  wish  for 
such  a  correspondent  in  every  great  capital,  at  every  great  historical 
epoch.     But  that  would  be  intellectual  luxury.     The  present  work 

^  Lettres  de  prangois  Rabelais  ecriles -pendant  son  voyage  en  Italie,  avec  observa- 
tions histpriqUes,  &c.  8vo.  Paris.  1710.  Earlier  editions  are  very  incomplete. 
A  few  moi^e  letters  (mostly  in  Latin  and  of  less  general  interest)  will  be  found  in 
the  editions  of  Rabelais's  complete  works  by  MM.  Burgaud  Desmarets  and  Ralhery. 
2  vols.  1857.  &c.     Passages  here  italicized  are  so  given  in  the  text  of  1710. 


2o8  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

constantly  rouses  a  keen  regret  that  we  have  not  more  of  it,  nay,  an 
ardent  desire  to  be  allowed  to  cross-examine  a  writer  whom  we  find 
in  so  thoroughly  resportsive  a  mood 

Rome  is  crowded  at  the  time  the  correspondence  begins,  with 
princes,  ecclesiastics,  ambassadors,  and  their  suites,  each  concerned 
with  their  several  interests  and  intrigues,  and  all  alike  (including  his- 
Holiness  Paul  III. — Alessandro  Farnese,  who  had  in  1534  suc- 
ceeded to  the  unhappy  Clement  VII.)  awaiting  with  very  mixed 
emotions  the  arrival  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  who  is  approaching 
tardily  by  way  of  Naples.  Among  the  ecclesiastics  is  Rabelais's 
patron,  the  Cardinal  Jean  du  Bellay,  litterateur,  and  Minister  of 
Francis  I.,  first  at  the  court  of  Henry  VIII.  (1527-33),  and  for 
the  next  two  years  in  Rome,  brother  of  the  memoir-writers  Martin 
and  Guillaume,  and  uncle  of  the  more  famous  Joachim,  poet,  and 
author  of  the  Defense  de  la  Po'esie  Fran^aise.  Rabelais  himself  has 
private  business  of  an  important  nature  in  the  Papal  court,  no  less 
than  his  absolution  from  the  ecclesiastical  censures  incurred  by  his 
desertion  of  the  abbey  of  Maillezais,  and  subsequent  irregular  life. 

He  writes,  for  the  rest,  as  the  casual  spectator  of  a  period  crowded 
with  interesting  events  and  personalities,  touching  with  tantalizing 
lightness  the  surface  of  matters  of  deep  and  often  tragical  significance, 
in  which  one  only  regrets  that  the  worthy  bishop, — to  whose  letters 
Rabelais,  here  on  his  good  behaviour,  pays  such  business-like  atten- 
tion— was  not  more  interested.  The  celebrities  of  the  period  would 
swell  a  long  list.  Guicciardini,  Paolo  Giovio,  Jerome  Vida,  Cardinal 
Bembo,  and  Michael  Angelo  were  at  this  date  elderly  men.  Ariosto^ 
if  alive,  would  have  been  a  little  more  than  sixty,  Machiavelli  but  a 
few  years  older.  Benvenuto  Cellini,  Pietro  Aretino,  and  Teofilo 
Folengo  ('*  Merlino  Coccaio ")  were  yet  young  or  in  the  prime 
of  life.  Luther  was  still  a  hale  and  hearty  man,  and  "  Pro- 
testantism"  just  become  (by  the  Peace  of  Nuremberg  in  1532)  an 
established  political  power  in  Europe ;  while  an  inevitable  "  Coun- 
cil "  looming  in  the  air  terrified  and  embarrassed  the  Romish  court. 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  209 

Italy  lay  in  misery  and  confusion  a  helpless  victim  of  the  ravages 
begun  by  the  invasion  of  Charles  VIII.,  and  culminating  in 
Bourbon's  atrocious  sack  of  Rome  in  1527,1  the  prey  of  petty 
despotisms  tempered  alternately  by  assassination  and  foreign  inter- 
vention. European  diplomacy — at  this  moment  centred  in  the 
Italian  capital — presents  a  monstrous  tangle  of  greed  and  treachery. 
Francis  I.,  whose  crushing  defeat  and  shameful  recovery  of  his 
liberty  were  yet  fresh  in  the  public  mind,  allied  with  the  great 
Solyman — invader  of  Hungary  and  terror  of  Christendom — negotiating 
with  Lutherans  in  Dresden,  and  burning  them,  to  advertise  his  ortho- 
doxy, in  Paris ;  Henry  VIII.  (whose  assistance  Francis  sought 
against  Charles  V.)  now  divorcing  that  Emperor's  aunt  in  open 
defiance  of  Papal  interdicts,  now  defending  the  Catholic  "  Faith  " 
and  inaugurating  Reformation  by  the  impartial  persecution  of  both 
religious  parties ;  Charles  the  Great,  whose  armies  had  plundered 
Italy  and  outraged  the  very  Head  of  the  Church,  returning  "  at  the 
pinnacle  of  his  glory"  financially  insolvent  from  an  unimportant 
victory  over  the  infidel,  and  making  triumphal  procession  to  the 
Holy  City  as  the  saviour  of  Italy  and  Christendom,  and  announcing 
to  the  assembled  powers  his  confident  defiance  (so  soon  to  be 
falsified)  of  the  arms  of  France ;  and,  in  the  background,  the 
business-like  Andrea  Doria — "  of  whom,"  Montluc  tells  us,  "  the  sea 
seemed  to  be  afraid  " — played  off,  by  whichever  European  potentate 
could  contrive  to  pay  him,  against  Barbarossa,  or  the  Catholic  King, 
of  Spain. 

It  is  under  these  circumstances  that  we  find  Master  Fran9ois 
Rabelais  writing  to  his  friend  the  Bishop  (December,  1535)  on  the 
interesting  but  not  historically  important  subject  of  vegetables  for 
salad.     He  had  despatched  already  "  all  the  kinds  which  are  eaten 

^  The  letters  of  Sadolet  {1477-1547)  should  also  be  consulted  on  this  period. 
(8vo.  Lugduni,  ap.  Seb.  Gryphium.  1554.)  He  was  a  correspondent  of  the 
Cardinal  Du  Bellay,  and  barely  escaped,  as  he  tells  us  (p.  201)  from  the  "  fearful 
destruction  "  at  Rome  with  the  loss  of  all  his  possessions.      See  p.  7  ante. 

P 


2IO  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

at  Naples  except  the  pimpernel,  which  I  could  not  get.  I  send  some, 
but  not  a  great  quantity  now,  as  I  cannot  give  the  courier  any 
more  to  carry 

"  The  Cardinal  Du  Bellay  and  the  Bishop  of  Magon  have  both 
assured  me  that  the  settlement  (of  the  little  affair  about  the  absolu- 
tion) will  be  granted  me  gratis,  although  the  Pope  as  a  general  rule 
only  gives  gratis  what  is  granted  per  cameratn.  I  shall  only  have  to 
pay  the  referendaries,  proctors,  and  other  such  '  messers  of  parch- 
ment' {barbouilleurs  de  parchemin).  If  my  money  runs  short  I  shall 
appeal  to  your  charity,  as  I  don't  expect  to  leave  here  till  the 
Emperor  does." 

"  The  thirty  crowns  you  sent  me,"  he  adds  in  a  subsequent  letter, 
•"have  almost  come  to  an  end.  Dress  and  lodging  ran  away  with  so 
much  money." 

He  had  spent  nothing  on  "  meschancete,'"  nor  on  food,  for  he 
usually  dined  with  the  Cardinal  ^  or  the  Bishop  of  Magon  ;  in  fine, 
■would  his  patron  kindly  send  him  a  letter  of  exchange? 

By  the  Pope's  advice  Rabelais  had  carried  his  case  into  the  court 
as  contentious  matter  (contradictorium),  because,  if  so  decided,  the 
sentence  could  not  be  questioned  in  France,  as  might  be  the  case 
"with  a  decision  in  camera. 

"  The  Emperor  is  at  Naples,  and  will  leave,  as  he  has  written  the 

^  In  a  note  (vol.  i.  p.  293)  to  the  Voiagis  de  Montaigne  (8vo,  Rome,  1774), 
It  is  stated  that  Rabelais  "  carved  and  handed  "  the  food  at  the  Cardinal's  table, 
also  that  on  one  of  these  occasions  he  made  a  severely  satirical  retort  "omitted  in 
Perau's  Life  of  Rabelais  "  to  one  of  the  guests,  a  prelate  who  had  indulged  in  some 
rather  free  abuse  of  the  French  nation.  This,  the  editor  says,  is  recorded  of 
Rabelais  by  his  friend  Estienne  Tabotirot  in  the  edition  (of  his  well-known 
'■^ Bigarrures" })  called  the  ^^  Little  Jesics"  edition,  ch.  vi.  p.  128.  The  biblio- 
graphical reader  may  be  able  to  verify  the  reference.  I  cannot  find  it  in  the 
edition  of  Rouen,  1591,  and  Estienne  Tabourot  (1547- 1590)  was  certainly  not  a 
friend  of  Rabelais's,  who  died  when  the  latter  was  only  six  years  old.  Perhaps  the 
Jean  Tabourot  referred  to  in  the  works  (i.  145,  ed.  1711)  may  be  the  original 
authority. 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  211 

Pope,  on  the  6th  of  January.  The  city  is  full  of  Spaniards.  His 
Holiness  gives  him  up  half  the  palace,  and  the  whole  township  of 
S.  Peter's  for  his  people,  and  is  having  3,000  beds  got  ready  in  the 
Roman  fashion,  that  is  to  say,  mattresses.  For  the  town  is  absolutely 
unprovided  with  them  since  its  sack  by  the  Landknechts.  Also  he 
is  providing  hay,  straw,  oats,  rye,  and  barley ;  and  wine — all  that  is 
on  the  wharves.  //  will  cost  him  a  pretty  penny,  which  in  his  great 
and  obvious  poverty,  worse  than  that  of  any  Pope  for  300  years  past, 
he  7vould  be  glad  to  avoid. 

"The  Romans  have  not  yet  settled  what  attitude  they  had  best 
adopt,  and  there  have  been  numerous  meetings  of  the  senators,  con- 
servators "  (a  sort  of  Board  of  Works),  "  and  governor,  but  they  cannot 
come  to  an  agreement. 

"  The  Emperor  has  notified  them  by  his  ambassador  that  he  does 
not  at  all  mean  his  soldiers  to  live  at  free  quarters, — that  is,  without 
paying, — but  just  as  shall  please  the  Pope.  This  greatly  vexes  his 
Holiness,  who  sees  that  the  Emperor  only  wants  to  see  with  what 
■consideration  he  means  to  treat  him  and  his  people. 

"  By  the  advice  of  the  Consistory  the  Holy  Father  has  also  sent 
two  legates,  the  Cardinal  of  Sienna  (Giovanni  Piccolomini)  and  Car- 
dinal Cesarini.  Salviati  and  Rodolfo  also  have  gone,  and  M.  de 
Saintes  with  them,  on  account  of  the  Florentine  affair,  I  understand, 
and  the  difference  between  Alessandro  de'  Medici  and  Filippo 
Strozzi,  whose  property  the  said  Duke  wanted  to  confiscate.  It  is 
very  considerable,  for  next  to  the  Fuggers  of  Augsburg  in  Germany,"  * 

^  In  a  letter  to  Jerome  Froben  of  Basle,  Roger  Ascham  writing  from  Augsburg  a 
little  after  this  date  says,  "  I  have  seen  the  Greek  library  of  Jacob  Fugger  and  have 
a  catalogue  of  the  manuscripts."  It  contained  many  works  which  had  never  been 
published,  and  Ascham  expresses  a  regret  that  the  owner  should  not  have  made  a 
more  generous  use  of  his  property,  stigmatising  the  celebrated  bibliophile  as  a 
'^^  Bibliotaph,  othodk-hvLTitx."     Aschami  Epistola:     Oxonias.     1703.     p.  253. 

Having  mentioned  this,  it  is  only  fair  to  add  that  our  own  copy  of  Cassiodorus 
(Variarum  Epp.  Libri  xii.  Folio.  Augsburg.  1533.)  bears  the  inscription  in  a 
bold  cinque-cento  hand — "  Ex  liberalitate  M.  &  Q.  T.     Joannis  facobi  Fuggeri 

P    2 


212  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

— the  firm  celebrated  for  their  connection  with  the  sale  of  indulgences 
— "  he  is  considered  the  richest  merchant  in  Christendom.  Strozzi 
had  placed  agents  in  Rome  to  poison  or  assassinate  the  Duke  at  all 
hazards,  who  hearing  of  this  obtained  leave  of  the  Pope  to  carry  arms 
and  went  about  with  a  guard  of  thirty  soldiers  armed  to  the  teeth." 

At  this  date — the  age  of  Lucrezia  Borgia  and  of  the  Thyestean 
horrors  of  the  House  of  Este  (the  patrons  of  Ariosto  and  Boiardo)  at 
Ferrara, — poisoning  and  assassination  had  perhaps  by  a  few  years 
(seeing  that  Alexander  VI.  died  in  1509)  passed  the  very  apogee  of 
their  popularity.  As  to  the  general  morale  of  the  upper  classes,  one 
may  doubt  if  it  was  not  worse  in  the  self-conscious  staleness  of  its 
crime  and  vice,  than  the  simpler  darkness  of  the  feudal  Middle  Ages. 

To  this  consideration,  and  to  the  affairs  of  the  House  of  Este,  the 
gossip  of  Rabelais  will  again  draw  our  attention.  In  the  reference  to 
Florence  we  touch  upon  a  subject-matter  to  which  we  have  elsewhere 
referred.^  The  young  Alexander  Medici,  first  Duke  of  Florence,  and 
affianced  to  the  daughter  of  Charles  V,,  was  murdered  two  years 
later  by  his  cousin  Lorenzino,  who  himself  was  assassinated  by  order 
of  Cosmo  I.  in  1548.  At  the  present  date  Strozzi,  the  freethinking 
millionaire-conspirator,  who  had  helped  to  restore  Alexander  and 
been  expelled  by  him,  was  attempting  to  return  at  the  head  of  a 
faction  of  "  fuor-usciti."  Failing  in  this  attempt,  he  was  subse- 
quently imprisoned,  tortured,  and,  as  some  say,  privately  put  to- 
death. 

"  Hearing  that  Strozzi  was  gone  off  with  the  Cardinals  to  the 
Emperor,  and  was  offering  400,000  ducats  to  any  one  who  would 
inform  against  the  Duke,  the  latter  set  out  from  Florence,  leaving 
Cardinal  Cybo  as  governor,  and  arrived  here  about  23  o'clock  the 
day  after  Christmas  Day,  entering  by  St.  Peter's  gate  with  fifty  light 
horse,  in  white  armour,  lance  in  hand,  and  about  100  arquebusiers." 

et  Hieronymi  Wolfii."     (?)  Jerome  Wolf  (1516-1581)  philolc^er,  editor  of  Demos- 
thenes, Suidas,  &c.,  &c. 
^  See  ch.v.,  p.  197. 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  213 

There  was  no  ceremony  on  his  arrival,  only  "  the  Emperor's  am- 
bassador "  went  to  meet  him.  The  Duke  had  a  short  audience  of 
the  Pope,  and  went  off  next  morning.  We  then  pass  off,  in  a  provok- 
ing manner,  to  the  great  news  of  the  day. 

"  During  the  past  week  the  Holy  Father  has  received  letters 
describing  the  defeat  of  the  Turk  by  the  Sophi,  King  of  Persia." 
The  Cardinal  Du  Bellay  had  the  report  confirmed  from  another 
(French)  source.  It  was  the  greatest  slaughter  known  for  400  years. 
On  the  Turkish  side  were  killed  40,000  horses.  And  think  what  a 
number  of  footmen  must  have  fx lien  on  both  sides/  For  among 
soldiers  not  given  to  running  away  non  solet  esse  incruenta  victoria. 
The  principal  defeat  was  near  a  little  place  called  Koni  (Khoi),  not 
far  from  Tauris,  for  which  city  the  Turk  and  the  Sophi  are  at  strife. 
The  other  near  Betelis  (Bitlis  in  Koordistan)." 

The  Turk  had  divided  his  army ;  "  a  bad  plan,"  adds  the  sage 
Rabelais,  "  before  you  have  conquered.  The  Fretich  could  have  told 
you  that,  when  the  Duke  of  Albany  {i.e.  John  Stuart,  son  of  Alexander 
the  brother  of  James  III.)  took  off  the  flower  and  strength  of  their 
army  before  Favia." 

At  the  news  of  this  defeat  Barbarossa  has  withdrawn  to  Constanti- 
nople to  secure  the  safety  of  the  country,  but  swearing  by  his  good 
gods  that  it  is  a  mere  nothing  to  the  power  of  Turkey.  But  the  Em- 
peror is  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  preparing  to  meet  a  Turkish 
invasion  of  Sicily  intended  in  the  early  spring.  This  may  give 
Christendom  a  good  long  rest,  and  those  who  exact  tithes  from  the 
Church,  eo  pretextu,  of  providing  resources  against  the  Turk,  will 
be  hard  put  to  it  for  cogent  arguments'^ 

Solyman  the  Great  after  the  capture  of  Belgrade,  of  Rhodes,  and 
the  defeat  of  the  Hungarians  at  Mohacz,  had  become  involved, 
about  1530,  in  a  struggle  against  Charles  V.  and  the  Republic  of 
Venice.  But  a  month  later  we  find  Rabelais  writing  :  "  I  told  you 
of  the  Sophi's  victory  at  Betelis.  The  Turk  has  not  been  slow  in 
avenging  it.     Two  months  later  he  fell  upon  the  Sophi  with  such 


214  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

fury  as  never  was  seen,  wasted  a  large  district  of  Mesopotamia  with 
fire  and  sword,  and  drove  him  back  beyond  the  Taurus.  He  (the 
Sophi)  is  now  having  a  fleet  of  galleys  built  on  the  Tanais  for  the 
purpose  of  a  descent  on  Constantinople.  Barbarossa  is  still  there^ 
having  garrisoned  Bona  and  Algiers  in  case  the  Emperor  should 
attack  him. 

"  I  send  you  his  portrait,  drawn  from  the  life  ;  and  a  plan  of 
Tunis  and  the  maritime  towns  of  the  neighbourhood." 

With  a  letter  begun  on  December  30,  1535,  he  forwards  to  the 
Bishop  another  present  (which  many  a  bibliophile  would  be  glad 
to  possess),  "  a  book  of  prognostications,  about  which  all  Rome  is 
occupied.  It  is  entitled  De  Eversiotie  Europce.  For  my  part  I  don't 
place  the  least  confidence  in  such  things.  But  one  never  saw  Rome 
so  given  over  to  these  vanities  and  divinations  as  at  this  moment. 
I  take  the  reason  to  be — 

Mobile  mutatur  semper  cum  principe  vulgus." 

Upon  such  "vanities  and  divinations"  the  author  (or  editor?)  of 
the  Prognostication  Pantagrueline — a  black-letter  edition  of  which 
appeared  at  Lyons  in  1535 — speaks  of  course  as  an  expert. 

He  also  sends  the  good  bishop  an  almanack  for  the  coming  year 
1536  ;  a  copy  of  the  Papal  Brief  directing  the  necessary  preparations 
for  the  arrival  of  the  Emperor  (of  which  more  anon)  ;  a  copy 
of  the  "  Entry  "  of  Charles  V.  into  Messina  and  Naples  ;  and  the 
funeral  oration  delivered  at  the  burial  of  the  late  Duke  of  Milan. 

This  latter  may  have  been  of  an  improving  nature,  for  the  said 
Duke,  F.  Mario  Sforza,  a  son  of  "  Louis  the  Moor,"  died  universally 
detested  by  his  subjects  for  the  exactions  he  imposed  in  order  to  pay 
tribute  to  the  economical  Emperor  who  had  placed  him  on  the 
throne. 

January  1536  we  return  to  the  Florentine  intrigues.  Rabelais  is 
unable  to  deliver  M.  d'Estissac's  letter  to  M.  de  Saintes  because  the 
latter,  with  the  Cardinals  aforesaid,  is  still  at  Naples. 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  215 

"  I  understand  their  business  with  the  Emperor  has  not  terminated 
as  they  wished.  In  fact  he  told  them  peremptorily  that  having 
established  Alessandro  de'  Medici  in  the  duchy  of  Florence  at  their 
express  request  and  instance,  and  that  of  the  late  Pope  Clement,  and 
contrary  to  his  own  intention,  to  depose  him  now  would  be  to  act 
like  a  fool,  doing  one  moment  what  one  undid  the  next ;  therefore 
they  had  better  make  up  their  minds  to  recognise  him  as  their  lord, 
and  obey  him  loyally. 

"  As  to  their  complaints  against  the  Duke,  he  would  take  cogni- 
zance of  them." 

So  the  matter  of  the  Grand  Duke  was  left  to  be  settled,  a  little 
later,  by  the  dagger  of  Lorenzino. 

Meanwhile  the  Pope's  ambassadors  had  succeeded  in  inducing 
Charles  to  defer  his  coming  till  the  end  of  February.  (As  a  matter 
of  fact  he  did  not  enter  Rome  till  the  middle  of  April,  according  to  a 
MS.  account  of  his  peregrinations  cited  in  the  notes  of  Sainte  Marthe.) 
^^  If  I  had  as  many  crcnvns"  Rabelais  mischievously  remarks,  "ax 
the  Pope  would  give  days  of  pardon  and  other  such  favours  proprio 
motu,  de  plenitudine  potestatis,  to  whoever  would  defer  it  for  five 
or  six  years,  I  should  be  richer  than  Jacques  Coeur  I  They  have 
begun  great  preparations  here  for  his  reception,  and,  by  order  of  the 
Pope,  made  a  new  road  by  which  he  is  to  enter,  that  is  to  say,  from 
the  gate  of  S.  Sebastian,  towards  the  Campidoglio,  the  Temple  of 
Peace  and  the  Amphitheatre ;  and  he  is  to  pass  under  the  ancient 
triumphal  arches  of  Constantine,  Vespasian,  Titus,  Numatianus,  and 
others,  thence  along  by  St.  Mark's  and  by  the  Campo  di  Fiori  in 
front  of  the  Palazzo  Farnese,  where  the  Pope  used  to  live"  (the 
Palazzo  Farnese  was  built  by  Paul  III.  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  Colos- 
seum), "  then  past  the  Banks  (via  de'  Banchi),  and  under  the  walls  of 
the  castle  of  S.  Angelo. 

"  In  order  to  prepare  and  level  this  route  more  than  two  hundred 
houses  and  three  or  four  churches  have  been  demolished  to  the  very 
ground,  which  many  people  take  as  an  ill  omen.  The  day  of  the  Conver- 


2i6  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

sion  of  St.  Paul  the  Holy  Father  went  to  hear  mass  at  St.  Paul's,  and     f 
feasted  all  the  cardinals.     Afterwards   he   returned  by  the  above-     ' 
mentioned  route  and  lodged  at  the  Palazzo  San  Giorgio.     jBui  it  is 
pitiful  to  see  the  rui?ts  of  the  houses  that  have  been  destroyed ;  and 
no  payment  or  compensation  made  to  any  of  the  owners  !  " 

These  ''preparations"  for  the  coming  of  Charles  V.  seem  incre- 
dible to  modern  ears,  and  considering  the  deplorable  state  of  Italy, 
we  can  well  imagine  with  how  sincere  a  welcome  that  greatest  of 
earthly  monarchs  was  received.  The  statement  of  various  historians, 
quoted  by  Prescott,  that  "it  was  found  necessary  to  remove  the  ruins 
of  an  ancient  Temple  of  Peace,"  presumably  the  one  supposed  to 
have  been  built  by  Vespasian  and  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  time  of 
Commodus),  and  that  this  was  an  ill  omen,  would  appear  (if  we  are 
to  beheve  Rabelais)  to  give  a  very  insufficient  account  of  the  matter. 
Such  an  appalling  destruction  of  property  may  give  us  an  idea  of 
the  respect  it  was  thought  necessary  to  show  at  this  date  to  the  head 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 

"  To-day  the  Venetian  ambassadors  have  arrived,  four  fine  old 
fellows,  quite  grizzled.  They  are  on  their  way  to  the  Emperor  at 
Naples.  The  Pope  has  sent  all  his  household  before  them ;  cubicu- 
laries,  gentlemen  of  the  chamber,  Janissaries  [Giamiizzeri,  solicitors  of 
the  court  ^ ),  and  Landknechts  ;  and  the  cardinals  have  despatched 
their  mules  in  pontifical  state. 

"  On  the  7th  the  ambassadors  of  Sienna  were  likewise  admitted  to 
a  state  audience,  and  made  their  harangue  before  the  Consistory. 
The  Pope  replied  in  excellent  Latm,  and  they  left  scon  afterwards  on 
their  way  to  Naples.  /  have  no  doubt  all  the  Italian  States  will 
send  embassies  to  the  Emperor,  tuho  knows  well  etiough  how  to  play 
his  game  of  getting  money  out  of  them,  as  has  been  discovered  in  the 
past  ten  days."  Of  these  imperial  "  devices  "  Rabelais  promises  to 
tell  us  more  later  on.     Meanwhile  he  mentions  the  death  at  Naples, 

^  A  college  of  one  hundred  "  Janissaries "  was  among  those  established  (for 
purely  financial  purposes)  by  Alexander  VI. 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  217 

■"  a  fortnight  ago,"  of  the  Prince  of  Piedmont.  Louis  of  Savoy,  a 
nephew  of  Charles  V.,  was  being  educated  with  Phihp  II.  when  cut 
off  by  fever  at  the  age  of  thirteen. 

"  The  Emperor  has  given  him  a  splendid  funeral  "  (we  may  pre- 
sume at  the  expense  of  the  Neapolitans),  "  at  which  he  was  present  in 
person." 

The  King  of  Portugal  (John  III.,  son  of  the  famous  Emmanuel, 
And  also  a  nephew  of  the  Emperor)  had  suddenly  recalled  his  am- 
bassador from  Rome,  who  came  "all  booted  and  spurred  to  say 
good-bye  to  the  Cardinal  Du  Bellay."  Moreover  a  Portuguese 
gentleman  who  seemed  to  have  made  himself  obnoxious  by  pleading 
the  cause  of  the  Jews  baptised  in  Emmanuel's  reign,  and  persecuted, 
for  the  usual  financial  reasons,  by  the  present  King,  had  been 
"  assassinated  in  open  day,  close  to  the  bridge  of  S.  Angelo."  From 
which  two  events  Rabelais  doubts  but  there  is  some  insurrection  on 
foot  in  Portugal. 

It  is  in  a  short  note  dated  January  28,  1536,  that  we  learn  the 
Turkish  victories  in  Mesopotamia,  and  (incidentally)  that  the  Em- 
peror was  then  occupying  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  the  subject  of  so  much 
•contention  and  evasion  on  the  part  of  Charles  and  the  French  king. 
Twelve  hundred  Landknechts  despatched  for  that  purpose  had, 
Rabelais  tells  us,  wearied  of  being  at  sea,  and,  on  suspicion  of 
treachery,  murdered  their  pilot  and  crew.  Being,  however,  unable 
to  manage  the  vessel  transporting  them,  all  were  drowned  within  a 
stone's  throw  of  port ! 

So  we  revert  to  the  all-absorbing  topic. 

"  The  Emperor  (February  15,  1536)  is  still  at  Naples,  and  expected 
here  at  the  end  of  the  month.  Great  preparations  are  being  made 
for  his  coming,  and  lots  of  triumphal  arches.  His  four  marshals  of 
apartments  are  already  here,  two  Spaniards,  a  Burgundian,  and  a 
Fleming. 

"  It  is  pitiful  to  see  the  ruins  of  churches,  palaces,  and  houses 


2i8  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

which  the  Pope  has  had  pulled  down  and  demolished  to  make  a  level 
highway  for  him.  And  for  the  expense  besides  he  has  taxed  the 
College  of  Cardinals,  officers  of  the  court,  artisans,  even  the  very 
water-carriers. 

"The  whole  city  is  full  of  foreigners. 

"  On  the  5th  arrived  the  Cardinal  of  Trent  in  Germany  (Bernard 
de  Clos)  in  full  state,  more  sumptuous  than  that  of  the  Pope.  In 
his  train  were  more  than  a  hundred  Germans  in  gala  costume,  red 
robes  striped  with  yellow,  and  embroidered  on  their  right  sleeves  a 
sheaf  of  wheat,  bound,  bearing  the  motto  unitas. 

"  I  gather  that  he  is  most  anxious  for  the  peace  and  settlement  for 
all  Christendom,  and  for  the  Council  in  any  case."  The  Council  of 
Trent,  one  may  observe,  was  convoked  in  1542.  "  I  was  present  when 
he  (De  Clos)  observed  to  the  Cardinal  Du  Bellay,  '  The  Holy  Father, 
the  Cardinals,  Bishops,  and  Prelates  of  the  Church  shrink  from  the 
Council'^  and  will  not  hear  of  it,  in  spite  of  reproaches  from  the  secular 
arm  ;  but  I  see  the  time  approaching,  and  not  far  off,  when  the 
Church  will  be  compelled  to  demand  it,  and  the  laity  will  refuse  to 
listen  to  t/iem.  That  will  be  when  they  have  taken  from  the  Church 
all  the  wealthy  patrimony  given  in  days  when  the  Church  autJw- 
rities  by  means  of  frequetit  councils,  used  to  preserve  peace  and  unity 
among  the  secular '  " — a  "  disestablishment  "  to  some  extent  carried 
out  by  Henry  VIII. ;  but  we  do  not  know' that  the  Catholic  Church 
ever  showed  the  predicted  appetite  for  councils. 

Rome,  it  would  seem,  must  have  been  quite  occupied  in  watching 
the  arrival  and  departure  of  distinguished  guests. 

On  the  3rd  arrived  no  less  a  personage  than  Andrea  Doria,  whose 
judicious  patriotism  had  now  raised  him  to  the  height  of  his  renown ; 
but  he  arrived,  as  Rabelais  confides  to  us,  "  at  a  somewhat  awkward 
moment.     No  honours  were  paid  him  on  his  arrival,"  except  that 

^  In  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  a  crime  (of  Ihe-majestS)  to  speak  of  councils. 
See  Platina's  singular  account  of  the  persecution  he  suffered  at  the  hands  of 
Paul  II.      VitcE  Pcntijicum. 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  219- 

Signor  Pier  Luigi  (of  whom  we  hear  more  presently)  "conducted 
him  to  the  palace  of  the  Cardinal  Chamberlain,  a  representative  of 
the  celebrated  Genoese  house  of  Spinola.  The  next  day  he  visited 
the  Pope,  and  the  next  departed  for  Genoa,  the  Emperor  having, 
given  him  instructions  '  to  see  what  way  the  wind  blows,  in  France, 
in  respect  of  a  war.' 

"  Certain  news  has  been  received  here  of  the  death  of  the  late 
Queen  of  England,  and  they  say  also  that  her  daughter  is  very  ill." 

At  the  decease  of  the  divorced  Catherine  of  Aragon,  Mary  was- 
twenty-one.  We  here  stumble  on  a  detail  of  English  history.  "  The 
Bull  preparing  against  the  King  of  England  to  excommunicate  him 
and  proscribe  and  interdict  his  kingdom,"  which  purported  to  render 
void  even  mercantile  contracts  with  a  heretical  people — a  provision 
obviously  affecting  not  only  Englishmen — "  has  nevertheless,  as  I 
wrote  you,  not  yet  passed  the  Consistory,  on  account  of  the  articles^ 
De  conwieatibus  exiernorutn  et  comvierciis  ?nutuis,  to  which  his  grace 
the  Cardinal  Du  Bellay  and  the  Bishop  of  Magon  made  opposition 
on  behalf  of  the  King  {sal.  Francis  I.)  by  reason  of  his  interests  in 
the  matter.  It  has  been  postponed  till  the  arrival  of  the  Emperor ; " 
an  epoch  almost  as  important,  in  these  letters,  and  as  vaguely  deter- 
mined as  the  coming  of  the  Coquecigrues,  when  kingdoms,  we  know, 
were  to  be  redistributed,  and  all  diplomatic  matters  straightened 
out. 

Before  that,  however,  Rabelais's  own  little  business  was  brought 
to  a  happy  conclusion. 

"  I  have,  thank  Heaven,  settled  all  my  affairs,  and  it  has  only  cost 
me  the  drafting  of  the  Bulls,  the  Holy  Father  having  of  his  own  free 
will  accorded  me  the  composition.  I  think  you  will  find  the  means 
quite  satisfactory.  I  have  got  nothing  by  the  said  Bull  which  is  not 
legal  and  right.  But  as  to  the  formalities  I  have  been  put  to  a  deal- 
of  thought.  I  can  assure  you  I  have  hardly  made  any  use  of  the 
Cardinal  or  of  the  Ambassador  "  (Du  Vely,  Francis's  representative 
at  the  Imperial  court)  "  though  they  offered  very  kindly  to  employ  not 


220  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

only  their  own  recommendation  but  even  the  very  name  of  his 
Majesty." 

Rabelais's  offence,  as  appears  from  the  absolution  granted  him  on 
the  17th  day  of  January,  1536,  was  that  he  had  deserted  the  abbey  of 
Maillezais  to  which  he  had  been  attached,  and  led  a  vagabond  life  in 
the  habit  of  a  secular  priest,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  Church, 
finally  taking  up  the  profession  of  medicine.  The  "composition" 
accorded  by  Paul  III.  allowed  him  without  prejudice  to  his  eccle- 
siastical profession,  to  practise  as  a  doctor  wherever  he  pleased,  but 
for  charity,  and  gratuitously.  But  his  generous  patron,  the  Cardinal 
Du  Bellay,  having  about  this  time  found  his  services  useful,  pre- 
sented him  with  a  competent  living  and  the  cure  of  the  village  of 
Meudon. 

This  was  the  second  of  at  least  three  occasions  on  which  Rabelais 
was  near  coming  into  dangerous  conflict  with  supreme  authority.  On 
the  third  and  last,  when  that  authority  was  audaciously  derided,  the 
reputation  for  good  and  evil  of  the  learned  satirist  was  such  as  to 
require  and  justify  the  protection  of  a  powerful  monarch,  while  more 
than  one  kindred  spirit  expiated  the  Rabelaisian  freedom  of  their 
opinions  at  the  stake. 

At  this  date  a  few  unsuccessful  editions  of  medical  works  (such  as 
the  selections  from  Hippocrates  and  Galen,  printed  at  Lyons  in 
1532),  had  ushered  in  the  first  absolutely  anonymous  sketch  of 
the  great  satire  destined  to  set  all  the  monastic  world  by  the  ears, 
and  warranted  by  the  pious  author  himself  to  sell  fifty-four  times  as 
fast  as  the  Bible  ! 

But  to  return  to  the  letters.  Besides  his  employment  about  the 
•eminent  and  enlightened  Du  Bellay,  Rabelais,  as  we  see,  was  also 
rendering  some  kind  of  services  to  the  Bishop  of  Maillezais,  his 
ecclesiastical  superior.  Among  other  things  he  had  been  searching 
the  registers  of  the  palace  to  find  a  record  of  the  resignation  of  a 
certain  Dom  Philippes  (of  the  aforesaid  abbey)  in  favour  of  his 
nephew.     "  I  have  had  diligent  search  made,"  he  writes  "under  the 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  221 

years  1529,  30,  and  31."  Moreover  he  had  "tipped"  the  clerks 
of  the  registry  two  gold  crowns,  as  it  was  troublesome  work.  The 
Bishop,  moreover,  does  not  specify  exactly  enough  what  is  wanted. 
"  You  must  tell  me  the  man's  diocese  ;  and  whether  the  resignation 
was  supposed  to  be  made  by  way  of  exchange  {permutationis  causa) 
or  absolutely  {pure  et  simpliciter):'  Anyhow  the  clerks  could  find 
nothing.  "  So  I  think  there  must  be  something  suspicious  about  the 
case." 

As  to  the  vegetable  seeds,  D'Estissac  should  clearly  have  been 
satisfied.  Those  despatched  were  "  the  very  best  known  in  Naples ; 
what  the  Holy  Father  has  sown  in  his  private  garden  at  Belvedere." 


Device  on  last  leaf  of  j1/.  Hieronyini  Vid<e  Poemata.     Lugduni.     8vo.     1533.     X'p.  Sebast. 
Gryphiuin,  for  whom  Rabelais  had  a  few  years  before  been  employed  in  correcting  proofs. 

Other  inquiries  of  the  Bishop,  Rabelais,  we  can  well  understand, 
could  answer  without  any  research  into  the  records  of  the  time.  But 
the  genealogy  of  papal  families  was  a  complicated  matter  requiring 
infinite  tact  for  its  elucidation. 

"  You  ask  me,"  says  the  Secretary,  "  what  relation  is  Pier-Luigi 
(Farnese)  to  the  Pope." 

This  injudicious  conundrum  lets  in  by  a  side-door  to  what  might 
be  a  voluminious  chronique  scandaleuse. 

'"'■  Scachez  que  le  Pape  ne  fust  jamais  marie."    There  was  not  much 


222  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

in  that,  but  we  may  follow  the  matter  a  little  further,  turning  from 
the  letter  thus  prefaced,  of  Rabelais's,  to  Bernardo  Segni's  precious 
Jstorie  Florentine,  which  cover  all  this  period.  Pier-Luigi,  after- 
wards Duke  of  Parma  and  Piacenza,  but  of  whom  more  must  not  be 
■said,  poses  as  the  blackest  figure  of  a  by  no  means  mezzotinted  age. 
Borgia,  Este,^  Sforza,  Medici,  Farnese !  What  a  criminal  calendar 
might  be  composed  of  these  great  names  if  one  knew  but  where,  in 
common  fairness,  to  begin  ! 

Roderic  Borgia,  better  known  as  Alexander  VI.,  who  pur- 
chased the  headship  of  the  Church  in  1492  with  several  mules' 
burdens  of  silver,  first  began  the  practice  of  calling  the  "  Pope's 
nephews  "  by  something  like  their  right  name.  His  virtues,  Guicciar- 
dini  naively  tells  us,  were  "  considerably  surpassed  "  by  his  vices.  It 
was  his  practice  to  make  cardinals  (he  appointed  forty-three  in  the 
-eleven  years  of  his  Papacy)  at  fees  varying  from  10,000  to  30,000 
■crowns,  and  then  to  poison  them  off,  until,  "  hoist  with  his  own  petard," 
he  perished  by  the  inadvertence  of  a  servant  in  1503.^  Among  the 
cardinals  surviving  him  was  Alessandro  Farnese,  afterwards  (as  in 
these  letters)  Paul  III.  The  good  fame  of  this  dignitary  was  sullied, 
Segni  tells  us,  by  the  suspicion  aroused  in  many  minds  (the  sudden 
death  of  Cardinal  Contarini  in  15 15  was  a  case  in  point)  that  he  also 
practised  the  Borgian  art,  had  in  fact  been  taught  it  by  Alexander,  who 
conferred  on  him  this  favour  in  return  for  the  love  of  his  "  beautiful 
sister."  The  sister  was,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  married  to 
some  one  else.  Her  husband  heard  of  the  Spaniard's  intrigues  and 
disapproved  of  them  ;  '■'■  somme  toute"  as  Rabelais  tells  the  story,  "// 
la  tua."  Pope  Alexander  was  grieved,  and  gave  young  Farnese  a 
cardinal's  hat  and  other  desirable  things  "  to  console  him,"  When 
the  latter  attained  the  Papacy  in  1534  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight,  he  lost 
no  time  in  providing  for  his  family.      This  and,  a  little  later,  a  per- 

^  A  fund  of  interesting  and  curious  information  upon  this  subject  and  period  will 
ht  found  in  L.  Cappelli's  excellent  edition  of  the  Letters  of  Ariosto.  Bologna.   1866. 
^  See  p.  198  ante. 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  223 

"sistent  hostility  to  the  power  of  Spain,  were  his  leading  motives  of 
action. 

Behind  the  festive  preparations  above  described  for  the  coming  of 
■Charles  V.,  we  discern  in  the  letters,  and  yet  more  clearly  in  Segni's 
•chronicle,  the  Pope  hesitating  whether  or  no  to  fly  from  Rome,  and 
finally  deciding  to  arm  such  force  as  he  could  collect  and  remain  to 
welcome  "  Caesar." 

Rabelais  has  mentioned  the  visit  of  the  Duke  of  Florence  ;  but  he 
■does  not  tell  us  that  when  Alexander  Medici,  scarcely  announced, 
hurried  up  the  Vatican  stairs  and  suddenly  appeared  in  the  Papal 
presence,  Paul  III.'s  first  thought  was  that  an  attempt  was  being 
made  to  seize  his  sacred  person.  Paul  was  strongly  suspected  of  having 
had  a  hand  in  poisoning  the  Cardinal  Hippolyto  Medici.  Alexander 
was  more  probably  himself  guilty  of  this  crime,  not  to  mention  others. 
The  Cardinal  had  previously  tried  to  blow  up  his  cousin  the  Duke 
Avith  gunpowder  (novel  means  which  must  have  seemed  an  agreeable 
relief  to  the  dreary  interchanges  of  "  veleno "  with  its  painfully 
familiar  symptoms)  and  failed.  According  to  another  account 
Francesco  Berni,  a  true  compeer  and  contemporary  of  Rabelais, 
famed  as  the  licentious  inventor  of  burlesque,  was  employed  by  one 
of  these  two  laoble  villains  to  poison  the  other,  and  having  declined 
the  task  (which  shows  that  he  was  not  altogether  devoid  of  scruples), 
was  very  naturally  poisoned  himself,  by  way  of  closing  an  unpleasant 
family  episode. 

The  Cardinal  Medici  may  have  been  a  cardinal  too  many,  ob- 
structing the  advancement  of  the  Farnese  family.  At  any  rate,  all  the 
Pope's  nipoti^  including  the  infamous  Pier-Luigi  (who,  after  holding 

^  Upon  the  vast  and  dark  subject  of  Papal  family  jobbery  and  personal  iniquity 
the  reader  may  refer  to  Gregorio  Leti's  work  II  Nipotismo  di  Roma,  l2mo,  s.  1. 
(Amsterdam),  1667,  which  (besides  being  one  of  the  rarest  and  most  beautiful 
productions  of  the  Elzevir  press)  is  full  of  curious  anecdotes,  and  I  suppose  the 
most  valuable  composition  left  by  its  author,  although  the  Dialoghi  Historici  delt 
Academico  incognito  (Geneva,  1665)  ^^^  worth  having,  which  can  hardly  be  said 
of  the  Vita  di  Dotttta  Olimpia  Maldachini  (sister-in-law  of  Innocent  X.)  published 


224  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

the  "  apple  of  the  world  "  at  the  solemn  reception  of  Charles  V.  irr 
St.  Peter's,  and  some  ten  years  of  despotic  iniquity,  was  finally  assas- 
sinated with  every  horror  known  to  long-stored  revenge  in  1547), 
received  the  hat,  and  there  was  even,  Rabelais  adds  in  his  own  style, 
a  little  "  cardinalicule  "  of  the  second  generation.  Whether  the  Holy 
Father  did  or  did  not  cause  the  death  of  Hippolyto,  his  assistance  to 
the  Strozzi  party  against  Alexander  Medici  seems  to  have  availed  the 
latter  very  little. 

The  efforts  of  the  Cardinals  Salviati  and  Rodolfo  in  what  Rabelais 
has  called  "the  Florentine  affair"  were,  as  we  soon  learn,  quite 
unsuccessful. 

On  their  return  from  Naples  we  hear  the  story  in  detail.  Strozzi 
and  his  friends  offered  the  Emperor  a  million  in  gold,  which  must 
have  been  a  considerable  temptation  to  the  impecunious  Charles, 
and  undertook  to  finish  the  fortifications  of  the  citadel,  "  La  Rocca," 
at  Florence,  to  have  it  garrisoned  by  competent  troops  in  the  Imperial 
interest,  and  to  pay  the  Emperor  an  annual  tribute  of  100,000  ducats. 
Such  was  the  market  price  of  the  right  to  oppress  Florence. 

The  exasperating  Charles,  however,  received  Duke  Alexander  on  his 
arrival  among  the  political  competitors  at  Naples  very  favourably ;  and 
the  latter,  now  the  affianced  husband  of  Margaret  of  Austria  (marriage 
being  clearly  as  important  a  diplomatic  agency  as  assassination)  seems 
to  have  played  his  cards  well. 

Having  lavished  vast  sums  on  the  fortress  aforesaid,  he  had 
judiciously  caused  to  be  painted  on  its  portals  the  Imperial  Eagle  with 
wings,  Rabelais  assures  us,  "as  big  as  the  windmills  of  Mirebelais,  ta 
show  that  he  holds  only  of  the  Emperor" — an  elaborate  piece  of  flattery. 

under  the  name  of  L' Abate  Gualdi,  1666.  See  a  notice  in  Appendix  to  Ranke's 
Hist,  of  the  Popes.  In  the  first-named  work  (Pt.  ii.  p.  8)  we  are  told  that  "Duke 
Valentine  (Csesar  Borgia),  robbed,  murdered,  outraged,  and  trampled  on  all  laws 
human  and  divine  at  his  own  pleasure,  without  thought  or  scruple,  but  what  was  worse 
was  that  he  covered  these  monstrous  vices  with  the  mantle  of  the  Papal  authority, 
and  commonly  excused  them  with  the  remark  ch'egli  sapeva  bemssi?no  quel  che 
faceva  perchi  il  sua  padre  che  gli  lo  permetteva  haveva  seco  to  Spiriio  Santo  ! 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  225 

Alexander  Medici  had  also  "  tyrannised  so  adroitly,"  in  the  family 
style,  as  to  get  up  a  popular  demonstration  "  nomine  communitatis" 
in  his  own  favour.  In  fact,  as  the  historian  Francesco  Guicciardini 
himself  argued  the  Duke's  cause,  we  might  presume  that  there  was 
something  to  allege  in  his  favour  besides  the  heraldic  work  of  art 
above  mentioned.  Guicciardini,  however,  defended  his  vices,  which, 
as  in  the  case  of  Pier-Luigi,  were  of  a  kind  to  affect  the  happiness  of 
other  people,  by  pointing  out  that  he  was  very  young,  which  may  not 
have  satisfied  every  one.^ 

"  Intrigues  " — or  what  is  briefly  summarized  under  that  favourite 
term  by  many  a  modern  historian — seem  often  a  mere  conventional 
stepping-stone  from  one  state  of  things  to  another.  To  the  Bishop 
of  Maillezais  the  "  true  inwardness  "  of  certain  contemporary  events 
must  have  been  clearly  apparent. 

Thus,  in  one  Rabelaisian  epistle  we  have  a  complete  cameo  of 
another  historic  "affair,"  not  unimportant  in  its  day,  of  which 
Ludovico  Ariosto  could  also  have  told  us  something.  The  Duke 
of  Ferrara  was  engaged  in  a  long  dispute  with  the  Pope  as  to 
the  amount  of  the  fine  to  be  paid  for  his  investiture  to  the  estates 
held  in  fee  of  the  Papacy.  Paul  III.  had  reduced  his  demand 
to  the  sum  of  50,000  crowns.  The  Duke  offered  35,000,  and  there 
they  stuck.  A  representative,  one  Jannet,  came  from  Ferrara  to 
argue  the  case.^ 

In  cash  the  only  difference  between  the  exalted  disputants  was 
15,000  crowns  ;  but  there  was  a  further  point.  The  Pope  wanted  to 
be  recognised  as  feudal  lord  of  all  the  Ferrarese  territories.  The 
Duke  would  only  do  homage  for  those  parts  for  which  his  father  had 

^  Alexander  Medici  is  usually  represented  as  a  youthful  monster  of  iniquity. 
That  he  was  not  devoid  of  justice  and  humanity,  or  at  least  of  a  considerable  sense 
of  humour,  may  be  inferred  from  an  entertaining  record  of  him  which  ran  through 
four  or  five  editions  before  the  end  of  the  centurj*.  Attioni  e  stntcnze  del  S.  Ales- 
sandro  Medici,  prima  Duca  di  Firenze.  Vinezia.  Giolito.  4to,  1564,  by 
Alessandro  Ceccheregli. 

^  Let  fere  di  Ludovico  Ariosto.     Bolopia,  1866  (cited  above). 

Q 


226  WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME. 

rendered  it  in  accordance  with  a  decision  of  Charles  V.,  in  the  time  of 
Clement  VII. 

"  The  point  {la  finesse)  of  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Emperor  has 
no  money,  and  is  looking  for  it  in  every  quarter.  He  borrows  of 
everybody,  and  taille  tout  le  tnonde  quHl pent. 

"  When  he  arrives  here  he  will  of  course  try  it  on  the  Pope. 
He  will  argue  that  he  has  engaged  in  all  these  wars  for  the  sake  of 
Italy  and  his  Holiness,  and  that  he  (the  Pope)  must  contribute  to 
them, 

"  The  Pope  will  answer  that  he  hasn't  a  penny  ;  nay,  he  will  pro- 
duce proof  positive  of  his  poverty.  Then  the  Emperor  will  ask  him 
for  the  Duke  of  Ferrara's  money,  which  he  might  get  by  a  stroke  of  the 
pen  (lequel  ne  tient  qu'k  un  fiat). 

"  You  see  how  mysteriously  these  matters  work."     We  do. 

A  word  upon  postal  arrangements  may  conclude  this  rechauffe  of 
the  gossip  of  a  special  correspondent  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  transmission  and  delivery  of  the  letters  was  a  matter  of  some 
care  and  anxiety.  There  was  no  organised  post,  and  it  was  a  far  cry 
even  to  such  irregular  facilities  as  were  enjoyed  by  Mme.  de  Sevignd. 
Rabelais's  own  replies,  he  thought,  were  tolerably  safe  as  far  as  Lyons, 
for  so  far  they  were  carried  "  in  the  sealed  packet  which  is  for  the 
business  of  the  King."  This  was  there  opened  by  the  Governor,  whose 
secretary — "  a  friend  of  mine  " — kindly  distributed  them  to  certain 
merchants,  of  Poictiers  and  others,  by  whom  the  rest  of  the  forwarding 
was  effected. 

Rabelais  addressed  his  letters  thus  "  under  cover "  to  the  care  of 
Michel  Parmentier,  a  bookseller  (is  he  otherwise  known  ?)  living  at 
"  the  crown  of  Basle,"  whom  he  advises  D'Estissac,  when  sending 
anything  important,  to  propitiate  with  an  occasional  crown  enclosed. 
Rabelais  himself  had  found  presents  of  little  knicknacks  from  the 
Roman  shops  of  considerable  use  for  this  purpose.  "  A  little,"  he 
sagely  remarks,  "  often  goes  a  long  way  with  these  good  people." 
Of  bankers — and  this  is  rather  strange  news — he  writes  to  the  Bishop  : 


WITH  RABELAIS  AT  ROME.  227 

*'  I  agree  with  you  that  they  are  not  to  be  trusted."  They  were  as 
likely  as  not  to  open  the  packets  for  themselves  and  appropriate  the 
contents — gratuity,  we  presume,  and  all !  Gentlemen,  he  calls  them, 
of  ^'peu  defoy." 

In  this  respect,  if  we  may  believe  Rabelais's  brief  chronicle  of  the 
time,  perhaps  they  were  not  much  worse  than  their  most  distinguished 
customers. 


Q  2 


VII. 
THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 


HOULD  we  ask  of  the  idlest  and  most  discursive  of 
readers  what  it  is  that  on  the  dullest  of  pages  most 
surely  arrests  his  vagrom  attention — he  would  probably 
reply — "Short  sentences  in  inverted  commas."  Per- 
sonal remarks,  epigrams,  apophthegms  of  wit  or 
wisdom — for  this  is  what  such  quotations  usually  mean — do  they 
not  often  furnish  the  best  memoria  technica  of  past  episodes,  or 
at  least  the  most  piquant  source  which  flavours  the  solid  joints  of 
historical  "  information  "  ? 

Of  the  memoir  and  the  pamphlet  we  have  spoken  elsewhere.  The 
"  Wit  of  History,"  in  the  best  sense  of  the  words,  should  represent 
the  quintessence  of  an  ephemeral  tract,  the  most  *'  instantaneous  " 
of  memoirs,  the  few  words  smacking  of  the  time,  the  place,  the 
occasion  in  which  dazzling  genius  or  rude  common  sense  catches 
and  preserves  for  us  a  memorable  scene,  a  long-lost  point  of  view,  or 
collects  and  throws  into  artistic  and  imperishable  form 
"  Le  bon  gros  sens  qui  court  les  rues." 
Or  again  it  may  be  taken  to  comprise  all  these  isolated  utterances 
of  distinguished  people,  works  of  art  more  or  less  venerable,  set  and 
framed,  as  it  were,  in  the  interest  or  admiration  of  average  humanity. 
Both  species  are  of  unfailing  interest  to  the  class  of  persons  vaguely 
known  as  "  Posterity." 

Alas  !  that  the  ideal  specimens  of  the  genus  are  far  from  being  as 
common  as  they  should  be,  that  the  best,  the  most  inevitable  have 


232  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

unfortunately  not  always  been  the  most  popular,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  very  inferior  specimens — corrupted,  badly  "stuffed"  and 
**  restored  "  by  Vandal  taste,  have  often  found  and  long  retained  a 
place  in  the  museums  of  history. 

Great,  however,  in  any  case  is  the  force  of  the  traditional  bon  mot, 
or  even  the  simplest  remark  bearing  upon  a  great  occasion. 

In  early  boyhood — the  season  when  faith  is  green — it  gave  many 
of  us  a  simple  pleasure  to  believe  that  the  Duke  of  WelHngton,  at  a 
crisis  in  the  Battle  of  Waterloo  exclaimed — "  Up,  Guards,  and  at 
them  !  "  It  seems  an  obvious  enough  thing  to  have  said.  Yet  at  a 
later  stage  of  our  education,  this  romantic  belief  is  sapped  by  the 
gradual  conviction  that  the  "  Iron  Duke,"  with  his  natural  reserve, 
merely  observed — "  Now,  gentlemen,  if  you  please." 

Lastly,  as  even  this  splendid  vision  fades  on  our  riper  manhood, 
we  learn  with  pain  from  some  scornful  writer  in  a  newspaper  (who 
has  that  very  moment  acquired  the  knoweldge — and  this  is  what 
makes  him  so  scornful — from  the  latest  specialist  on  the  subject)  that 
the  general  in  question  never  made  either  of  these  observations,  was, 
in  fact,  in  a  different  part  of  the  field,  and  gave  his  orders  through 
an  aide-de-camp,  who  perhaps  merely  waved  his  sword,  pointed,  and 
uttered,  in  his  impatience,  an  imprecation  devoid  of  literary  interest 
which  no  one  distinctly  heard,  or  has  accurately  remembered. 

These  things,  which  we  merely  take  as  types,  may  or  may  not  be  so. 

It  matters  very  little.  Such  exclamations  throw  but  little  light 
upon  the  facts,  which  are  tolerably  well  known. 

At  any  rate,  the  reader  acquainted  with  the  works  of  M.  Victor 
Hugo  1  will  not  ask  if  the  dramatic  La  Garde  meurt  mais  7ie  se  rend 
pas  !  has  any  foundation,  recorded  though  it  be  in  the  contemporary 
epistle  of  Mrs.  Col.  Rawdon  Crawley,  C.B. 

General  Cambronne  used  to  blush  when  he  was  asked  the  question, 
seeing  that  he  not  only  surrendered,  but  survived  till  the  year  1842 

^  Les  Misirables,    Pt.  ii.  I. 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  233 

The  famous  phrase,  apparently  invented  by  one  Rougemont,  a 
journalist,  is  to  British  ears  a  turn  "  too  French." 

If  Frenchmen  have  said  as  many  good  things  as  other  people, 
they  have  probably,  in  their  self-conscious  moments,  spoilt  or  in- 
vented many  more.  It  was  Barr^re  who  concocted  what  may  be 
called  the  maritime  pendant  to  "  La  Grande  meurt,  &c."  in  that 
episode  of  the  Vengeur,  captured  June  ist,  1794,  in  the  engagement 
between  Lord  Howe  and  Admiral  Villaret-Joyeuse.  The  story 
supplied  a  whole  page  of  rhapsody  to  Carlyle. 

"  Ocean  yawns  abysmal.      Down  rushes  the    Vengeur 

carrying  '  Vive  la  Republique '  along  with  her  unconquerable  into 
eternity." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  an  officer  of  H.M.S.  Brunswick,  the 
vessel  engaged  with  the  Vengeur,  survived  to  set  the  excitable 
historian  right.  For  the  Vengeur  sank  as  a  British  prize,  and  with 
British  seamen  on  board  her,  her  own  captain  and  half  her  crew 
being  safe  in  one  of  Howe's  men  of  war.  The  page  of  rhapsody  was 
accordingly  cancelled,  or  rather  ironically  explained  away  in  subse- 
quent editions.  The  survival  of  the  truth  seems  here,  as  elsewhere, 
rather  a  happy  accident.  A  "good  thing,"  and  in  particular  a  good 
saying — for  sayings  leave  less  trace  in  the  phenomenal  world  than 
doings — whether  authentic  or  not,  once  reported  is  sure  to  live,  and 
very  likely  to  grow  and  multiply  until  the  serious  historian  comes 
round  and  prunes  the  plant  severely,  or  digs  the  weed  up  by  the 
roots.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  and  other  courtiers  never  wearied 
of  hearing  King  Charles  II.  tell  his  stories  ten  times  over,  because 
they  were  always  "enriched  by  some  new  circumstance,"  but  one 
feels  sure  that  none  but  the  dull  and  prosaic  circumstances  were 
ever  omitted. 

The  same  monarch,  whose  conversational  wit  was,  as  we  know 
from  an  equally  respectable  source,  exactly  proportioned  to  the  un- 
wisdom of  his  general  conduct,  has  bequeathed  us  specimens  of  the 
"  historic  witticism "  in  the  celebrated  anecdote  of  the  Duke  of 


234  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

York,  which,  as  Dr.  William  King  tells  us^^  the  old  Lord  Cromarty 
used  often  to  repeat. 

Charles,  attended  only  by  the  last-mentioned  peer  and  the  Duke 
of  Leeds,  habitually  took  a  turn  up  Constitution  Hill  as  far  as 
Hyde  Park.  It  was  there  that  one  morning  the  Duke  of  York — 
who  had  been  hunting  on  Hounslow  Heath,  and  was  returning  in  his 
coach — as  the  guards  surrounding  the  vehicle  stopped  at  sight 
of  the  King,  immediately  got  out  and  rallied  his  royal  brother  on  the 
danger  to  which  he  exposed  himself  by  such  lonely  promenades. 
*'  No  kind  of  danger,  James  ; "  was  the  King's  answer,  "  for  I  am  sure 
no  man  in  England  will  take  away  my  life  to  make  you  king." 

Nothing  could  be  better  than  this,  as  a  sample  of  the  simple, 
lucid,  and  popular  bon  mot  historigue,  which  for  earlier  and  less 
reticent  generations  did  what  a  cartoon  in  Punch  does  for  the 
modern  Englishman. 

The  member  of  Parliament  who  has  just  written  a  book  upon 
"  Personality  in  History  "  (an  ambiguous  title  which,  however,  does 
not  refer  to  rude  observations  like  that  of  Philip  H.  to  William  of 
Orange — "  Not  the  States,  but  you,  you,  you  ")  should  have  devoted  a 
chapter  to  historic  wit.  M,  Edouard  Fournier  did  this  for  French 
history  in  a  fascinating  little  volume  published  some  thirty  years  ago,^ 

^  King,  W.  (1685-1763),  Political  and  Literary  Anecdotes  of  his  own  times 
(8vo,  Murray,  1818),  p.  62  ;  and  see  Buckinghatn's  Short  Character  of  Charles  IT. 
Works.     1 7 14.     Vol.  ii. 

Some  interesting  details  upon  this  period  will  be  found  in  [B.  L.  de  Muralt's] 
Lettres  siir  les  Anglois,  les  Francois  et  les  Voiages.  8vo.  Cologne.  1725.  It  was 
the  fashion,  this  author  tells  us,  for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people  to  row 
about  on  the  Thames  and  chaff  one  another  {^^  se  dire  des  injures  en  passant"). 
The  boatmen  told  you  how  they  "  scored  off"  the  King  by  calling  him  a  ^^chimney- 
sweep"— a  delicate  allusion  to  his  complexion. 

^  L" Esprit  dans  I'Histoire,  recherches  sur  les  mots  historiques.  Paris.  1857. 
The  author  cites  Brotier's  Paroles  remarquables  (1790);  Lancelotti,  Farfalloni 
degli  antichi  historici  (Venet.  1736:  French  transl.  2  vols.  1770);  and  other 
similar  works,  M.  Charles  de  Rozan's  modestly  entitled  work  Les  petites  Igno- 
rances de  la  Conversatio7i  (6th  ed.  Hetzel,   1872)  will  also  be  found  useful  to  the 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  235 

which  the  student  will  find  an  invaluable  addition  (and  introduction) 
to  his  "original  authorities."  If  M.  Fournier  erred,  it  was  on  the 
side  of  scepticism,  but  his  work  shows  extensive  research  coupled 
with  the  necessary  sense  of  humour. 

It  is  painful  to  many  of  us  to  have  our  fondest  illusions  dissipated 
for  the  sake  of  what  sometimes  seems  a  pedantic  accuracy.  But  to 
jump  at  once  to  the  most  famous  of  all  French  "  mots  historiques," 
there  seems  to  be  no  authority  for  the  celebrated  constitutional 
dictum  of  Louis  XIV.     The  story  usually  runs  as  follows  : — 

On  a  celebrated  occasion  in  1655  that  monarch,  then  aged  seven- 
teen, entered  the  Parliament  in  red  coat,  grey  hat,  and  hunting  boots 
(later  writers  give  him  a  whip,  which  doubtless  adds  to  the  effect), 
and  in  a  brief  altercation  with  the  soi-disant  representatives  of  the 
nation  exclaimed  curtly  (according  to  the  tradition),  "  L'etat !  Vetat 
c'est  moil  The  remark,  which  is  not  recorded  by  the  journalist  of 
the  Parliament,  is  probably  an  anachronism  of  a  species  not  un- 
common. At  the  date,  that  is,  it  did  not  correspond  with  fact^ 
although  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  young  king  spoke  as 
the  well-drilled  pupil  of  Mazarin,towhom  he  returned  immediately  after 
the  incident.^  About  the  personality  of  the  "Grand  Monarque"  of  later 
days  flattering  fictions  cluster  thickly  and  luxuriantly,  witness  all  the 

general  reader.  In  the  examples  here  selected  I  have  found  it  interesting  and 
instructive  to  verify  Foumier's  numerous  references  :  one  of  which  however  I  must 
leave  to  the  reader.  It  concerns  the  account  found  in  modern  histories  of  an 
incident  in  the  battle  of  Brenneville  (itlli  A.D.),  between  Henry  I.  and  Louis  le  /  i"**  ^ 
Gros,  when  an  English  knight,  having  seized  the  French  monarch's  bridle,  called 
out  that  he  had  taken  the  King  ;  upon  which  Louis  felled  him  to  the  earth  with  a 
blow  from  the  royal  mace,  and  exclaimed  "  Kings  are  not  taken  even  at  chess" 

This  remark,  which  is  not  in  the  Vita  Ltidovici  VI.  by  the  Abbe  Suger, 
M.  Fournier  found,  he  tells  us,  by  chance  in  Bk.  i.  ch.  5  of  the  Polycraticon 
(meaning  the  Polycraticus)  of  John  of  Salisbury  (ob.  1 180),  whose  authority,  though 
so  nearly  contemporary,  he  considers  insufficient  for  an  anecdote  which  certainly 
sounds  too  epigrammatic  to  be  true. 

1  Bazin.  Histoire  de  France,  &rc.,  t.  4,  347.  The  King  spoke,  according  to 
the  gazette,  "  avec  une  graviti  vraitnent  royale" 


236  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

bombast  written  by  Court  poets  about  the  "  Taking  of  Namur"  and 
the  "  Passage  of  the  Rhine  " — which  flattery  'tis  pity  Prior  was  not 
alive  to  ridicule,^  and  for  which  the  reader  need  only  be  referred  to 
Voltaire's  Louis  XIV.  and  the  numerous  memoirs  of  the  period. 
But  the  great  Louis  did  write^  some  years  afterwards,  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  significant  phrase  :  "  The  nation 
in  France  has  no  corporate  unity  {ne  fait  pas  corps),  it  resides  altogether 
in  the  person  of  the  King."  Thus,  "  I'e'tat  c'est  moi  "  may  stand  as 
the  "  abstract  and  brief  chronicle  "  of  a  (little  later)  time.  James  II. 
is  said  by  some  authorities  to  have  hazarded  a  similar,  but  less  epi- 
grammatic, definition  of  his  place  in  the  constitution — "  Don't  you 
know  I  am  above  the  law  ?  "  To  which  the  Duke  of  Somerset  aura 
repondu  (the  French  idiom  is  sadly  wanting  in  our  language),  "  Your 
Majesty  may  be,  but  I  am  not."  - 

To  the  same  genus  belongs  La  Pompadour's  immortal  "  Apres  nous 
le  deluge  " — the  expression  either  of  abandoned  epicureanism  or  of  a 
sense  of  coming  judgment.  And  just  so  does  the  sagacious  Mme.  de 
Stael  characterise  the  whole  day-to-day  existence  of  the  pre-Revolu- 
tionary  generation.  The  kind  of  happiness  they  enjoyed  resembled 
the  sensations  of  the  man  falling  out  of  the  third-floor  window. 
"  Cela  va  Men  pourvu  que  cela  dure."  ^  And  a  score  of  brilliant  and 
"  epoch  painting  "  reflections  of  Disraeli  will  recur  to  the  reader. 

^  As  to  this  see  the  MJmoires  dti  Comte  de  Guiche  cone,  les  Pats-bas,  &c.  8vo. 
Londres.  1744.  The  Count,  who  once,  when  drunk,  called  the  King  a  poltroon 
("un  faux  brave:"  His  Majesty  pretended  not  to  hear)  commanded  a  regiment 
of  cuirassiers  on  the  occasion,  but  though  he  and  his  troopers  seem  to  have  made 
the  passage  easily,  in  the  face  of  an  enemy  and  under  fire,  it  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  devoid  of  danger.  Bossuet  called  it  "•  Le  prodige  de  notre  siicle."  Voltaire 
"  knew  an  old  woman  who  had  made  the  passage  scores  of  times  {on  horseback), 
merely  to  defraud  the  custom-house." 

-  So  Macaulay,  ed.  1858.  iii.  2  (misprint  in  index)  citing  Burnet,  Hist,  of  his 
own  time :  but  cf.  appendix  to  Ranke,  Hist,  of  England. 

"  Foumier  does  not  mention  this.  It  will  be  found  in  the  Considerations  (ed. 
1818,  iii.  386),  where,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  numerous  almost  equally  incisive 
■criticisms  are  to  be  found.     Voltaire's  "  Les  jeunes  gens  ....  verront  de  belles 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  237 

The  exact  authenticity  of  such  sayings  does  not  always  interfere 
with  their  practical  value.  If  Sir  Robert  Walpole  did  not  say  (as 
Horace  rashly  assures  us,  Walpoliana,  I.  90,  that  he  did  not)  that 
"  every  man  has  his  price,"  we  know,  if  only  from  his  son's  letters, 
that  he  must  have  said  something  very  like  it.^     To  learn  the  main 

chases,  &c.  (1764),  may  be  compared  with  even  more  distinctly  prophetic  words  of 
Lord  Chesterfield. 

^  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  WaIpo|el^letters,  in  spite  of  their  diffuseness, 
and  apart  from  their  sober  sense,  are  a  perfect  mine  of  historic  wit  and  international 
badinage,  which  might  form  the  subject  of  many  a  useful  examination  paper.  For 
example : — 

1.  What  eminent  poet  is  described  by  what  eminent  divine  as  "  Mens  curva  in 
cor  pore  curvo  "  ? 

2.  To  what  Royal  Duke  was  it  proposed  to  offer  the  freedom  of  "  the  Worshipful 
Company  of  Butchers  "  ? 

3.  Who  was  "  the  new  Fabius  'qui  vet-bis  restituit  rem ' "  ? 

4.  Explain  the  following  allusions,  giving  approximate  dates — 

(a)  "  The  earthquake  ....  they  say,  is  landed  at  Dover." 

(b)  "  Les  Anglois  viennent  iwus  casser  les  vitres  avec  des  guitUes." 
{c)  "The  French  do  not  improve,  like  their  wines,  by  crossing  the  sea." 

5.  To  whom,  and  of  what  country,  did  what  monarch  observe — '■'■My  lord,  I 
wish  it  were  100,000  miles  away,  and  that  you  were  King  of  it"  ? 

6.  Which  is  the  religion  that  "lets  you  eat  nothing,  but  makes  you  swallow 
everything"  ? 

7.  Explain  fully  the  two  following  extracts  from  Walpole  and  a  contemporary 
French  historian  : — 

{a)  "The  twelve  judges  ....  have  made  law  of  that  of  which  no  one  else 

could  make  sense." 
{b)  "  II  a  livre  un  combat  a  un  amiral  fran9ais  et  on  a  trouve' qu'il  n'etait  pas 
assez  pres  de  lui " — mais  I'amiral  franfais  etait   aussi   loin   de  I'amiral      , 
anglais  que   celui-ci  etait   de    I'autre  ?       "Cela  est   incontestable,"   lui    ¥ 
repliqua-t-on  ;  "  mais  dans  ce  pays-ci,  il  est  bon  de  tuer  de  temps  en  temps     1 
un  amiral  pour  encourager  les  autres." 
(See  Letters  to  Sir  H.  Mann,   1741-1760,  3  vols.,   1833  ;  and  Candide,  ch.  xxiii.) 
If  the  above  questions  were  considered  too  easy,  obscurer  historical  yVt/jr  d esprit 
(in  which  few  students  could  not  be  "  ploughed  ")  might  be  found  in  the  Catalogue 
of  nrw  French  Books  {'^  Vart  de  c here  her  les  cnncmis  sans  les  trouver,par  le 
Marichal  de  Maillebois,"  &c.,  &c.)  transcribed  by  Walpole  for  the  amusement  of 
his  "  dear  child,"  Sep.  11,  1742  ;  or  in  the  satirical  advertisements  appended  to 


238  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

outlines  of  history  in  the  easily  digestible  form  of  such  "  good  things  " 
one  must  frequent  the  society  of  the  great  ohes  of  the  earth,  of 
generals,  statesmen,  cultivated  "persons  of  quality"  like  the  connois- 
seur of  Strawberry  Hill,  or  cosmopolitan  litterateurs  like  the  author 
of  Candide. 

The  Prince  Eugene  in  what  are  called  his  memoirs  ^  has  left  more 
than  one  or  two.  Thus  he  called  England — of  which  he  had  some 
r  practical  knowledge — "  the  land  of  contradictions,"  with  an  oppo- 
sition of  "  faction,"  and  a  diplomacy  of  bad  faith.  Thus  may  we 
see  ourselves  as  others,  and  friends  too,  saw  us  some  two  centuries 
ago.  The  same  great  general  has  left  a  still  more  famous  pro- 
fessional reflection  on  the  House  of  Savoy  (who  have  been  accused 
by  other  authorities  of  always  conspiring  with  their  enemies  against 
their  allies) — "  La  geographie  les  empeche  d'etre  honnetes  gens." 

The  mention  of  geography  naturally  recalls  a  royal  observation 
almost  as  famous  as  '■'■  U'etat,  cUst  moi." 

According  to  Voltaire  {Siede  de  Louis  XIV.  ch  28,  which  chapter 
with  the  two  preceding  it  are  devoted  to  anecdotes  of  the  reign),  when 
the  Duke  of  Anjou  departed  to  take  the  crown  of  Spain,  the  King 
observed  to  him,  in  order  to  mark  the  union  which  was  now  to  pre- 
vail between  the  two  nations  :  "  The  Pyrenees  are  no  more  "  {Iln'y  a 
plus  de  Pyrenees). 

Voltaire,  as  Foumier  points  out,  must  have  been  acquainted  with  the 

certain  numbers  of  the  Craftsman  ["  Old  Franklyn,"  by  the  way,  the  printer 
of  this  periodical  "under  Tom's  Coffee  House,  Covent  Garden,"  3rd  ed.  1727, 
was  afterwards  a  tenant  of  Walpole's  at  Twickenham,  and  told  him  that  Pulteney 
never  wroie  in  the  paper — only  suggested  ideas.  To  Mann,  Ap.  27,  1753] ;  or,  to 
go  back  further  still,  in  Agrippa  D'Aubigni's  comic  catalogue  {Inventaire  des  livres 
trouvis  dans  la  Bibliothique  de  M.  Guillaiime),  written  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century.     See  Duchat's  notes  to  the  Memoires,  &c.  of  D'Aubigne,  1 729. 

'  The  well-known  Mdmoires  du  Prince  Eugene  de  Savoie,  ecrits  par  lui-meme 
(2de  reimpression  de  I'ed.  de  Weymar,  1809,  with  fine  portrait,  8vo,  l8ll),  were 
apparently  compiled  or  edited  by  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  whose  own  Letters  (published 
by  Mme.  de  Stael,  Geneve,  1809)  are  full  of  entertaining  gossip  upon  the  sovereigns 
and  celebrities  of  the  day— Frederick  the  Great,  Jean  Jacques,  Voltaire,  &c. 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  239 

authentic  version  of  the  story,  which  is  contained  in  that  very  journal 
of  Dangeau  of  which  he  had  himself  published  extracts.^  But 
Voltaire's  taste  for  accuracy  and  authenticity  was  arbitrary  and 
irregular. 

Thus  when  the  poor  Abbe  Velly  wrote  to  ask  him  where  he  found 
authority  for  his  statement  in  the  Essai  sur  Us  maurs,  that  the 
French  crusaders,  after  the  capture  of  Constantinople  in  1204, 
"  danced  with  women  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia  " 
— a  detail  which  would  naturally  strike  the  student  of  manners — the 
historian  naively  replied,  "  Nowhere.  I  invented  it  out  of  my  own 
head  {c'est  une  espieglerie  de  mon  imagination.'^)  The  present  case  is 
not  so  bad,  but  what  Dangeau  actually  records  (under  date  Nov.  16, 
1700;  the  complete  journal  is  now  published)  is  that  the  Spanish 
Ambassador  very  appositely  observed  that  the  journey  (into  Spain) 
was  an  easy  one  now:  the  Pyrenees  were  melted — a  metaphor  thoroughly 
Spanish  in  its  hyperbole. 

M.  Arouet  preferred  to  improve  and  Frenchify  it,  which  was  the 
more  inconsiderate  since  he  himself  tried  to  expunge  from  the  in- 
accurate but  still  useful  work  of  President  Renault '  an  epigrammatic 
remark  which  has  hardly  less  authority. 

The  clever  or  otherwise  remarkable  utterances  of  Royalty,  to  some 
of  which  we  have  referred,  would  of  course  fill  a  book,  and  a  very 
entertaining  one,  by  themselves.  It  is  certain  that  Louis  XI.  (of  whom 

^  Londres.  8vo.  1770,  Voltaire,  however,  remarks  (on  p.  178,  vol.  ii.  of  the 
sumptuous  edition  of  his  history  printed  by  P.  and  J.  Didot,  4  vols.,  1820)  that 
these  Memoirs  "which  people  regard  as  a  precious  monument  "  were  only  back- 
stairs gossip,  a  pack  of  absurdities  and  inaccuracies. 

2  See  Nouvel  Abrigi  Chronologiqtu  de  tHist.  de  France,  nouv.  ed.,  revisee, 
corrig^e,  etc.  (with  a  copious  index),  3  vols,,  8vo,  Rouen,  1789.  This  "skeleton 
history"  contains  an  immense  mass  of  details  arranged  in  a  lucid  and  readable 
form.  On  p.  937  of  vol.  3  will  be  found  italicised  the  reply  of  Louis  XIV.  to 
the  English  Ambassador's  complaints  about  the  fortification  of  Mardyck.  "iV. 
VAmbassadeur,  fai  toujours  iU  maitre  chez  mot,  quelquefois  chez  Us  autres,"  &c. 
"  Le  President,"  writes  Voltaire,  "  m'avoua  que  cette  anecdote  etait  tres  fausse  " — 
but,  as  it  was  printed,  would  not  withdraw  it. 


240  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

M.  Fournier  says  nothing)  made  many  good,  if  not  highly  polished, 
observations.  It  was  he  who  replied  to  the  Genoese  when  the 
Republic  oifered  itself  to  his  protection  :  "  Fous  vous  donnez  a  ;;/<?/, 
et  moi  je  vous  domie  a  tous  les  diables.^' 

With  his  humorous  actions  we  are  not  here  concerned,  and  there- 
fore leave  the  story  of  the  "  turnip  "  (which  might  be  regarded  as  a 
"  chestnut ")  for  the  reader  to  look  for  in  Comines,  and  find  with 
others  in  the  Convivium  Fabulosum  ^  of  Erasmus.  But  a  word  may  be 
said  here  upon  the  historic  practical  joke  alleged  to  have  been-  perpe- 
trated by  Charles  V.  upon  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  by  the  substitu- 
tion of  the  word  Ewiges  (lifelong)  for  Einiges  (short  or  light)  in  the 
official  description  of  the  imprisonment  which  the  latter  Prince  was 
to  undergo. 

When  the  Elector  had  smiled,  while  making  his  submission,  on  the 
same  occasion,  Charles  certainly  observed  "Good,  I  will  teach  you 
to  laugh  "  ( Wei,  ik  zal  u  leeren  lachgen)?  Did  he,  then,  do  so  in  the 
manner  supposed  ?  The  story  has  always  been  current.  We  have 
read  an  odd  version  of  it  in  that  curious  repository  of  wit,  the  Bigar- 
rures  of  Tabourot,  Seigneur  des  Accords  (ed.  Rouen,  i2mo,  1591, 
p.  46),  where  the  author  observes  that  the  two  German  words 
"enich"  and  "ewich,"  meant  respectively  "z£////z"  and  ^^  without"  / 
But  that  is  a  detail.  The  traditional  version  may  be  found  even  in 
Motley's  Dutch  Republic,  yet  later  authorities  say  that  unfortunately 
neither  of  the  two  similar  expressions  {ewiges,  or  einiges — Gefdng- 
niss)  appear  in  the  document  referred  to  at  all !  How  then  did  so 
distinct  a  good  story  originate  ?  Quien  sabe  ?  "  Revenons  k  nos 
moutons" — remembering  always  that  "k  ces  moutons "  is  the 
original  fifteenth-century  text. 

That  charming  writer  M.  Augustin  Thierry  dwells  in  one  of  his 
letters  on  the  "different  manners  of  writing  history."     Their  variety 

'  Colloquies,  ed.  1664,  p.  367.  This  chapter  contains  other  anecdotes  well  worth 
reading,  and  of  some  contemporary  interest.  Erasmus  was  born  sixteen  years 
before  the  death  of  Louis  XI.  2  x>j,^/j  j[foj^  Europe,  ed.  1861.   II.  50. 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  241 

once  so  considerable — ranging  from  that  of  the  genealogical  annalist 
who  traced  the  Frankish  descent  from  pious  ^neas,  to  that  of  the 
modern  French  historian  who  fancies  that  his  language  was  the 
^' native  tongue  "  of  Charlemagne — is  nowadays  being  toned  down. 
It  is  indeed  curious  that  quite  respectable  writers  should  have  gone 
on,  even  up  to  the  eighteenth  century,  repeating  accounts  of  inci- 
dents which  never  occurred,  and  stuffing  their  columns  ^vith 
eloquent  orations  which  were  never  delivered. 

The  "  solemn  quarto  "  historian  of  the  age  of  He'nault  and  Voltaire 
is  sometimes  more  trying  than  the  early  chronicler  of  whom  we  have 
spoken  elsewhere. 

Hear  Lord  Orford  (once  more)  upon  this  very  matter.  "  I  shall 
like,  I  dare  say,  anything  you  do  write  ;  but  I  am  not  overjoyed  at 
your  wading  into  the  history  of  dark  ages,  unless  you  use  it  as  a  can- 
vas to  be  embroidered  with  your  own  opinions  and  episodes,  and  com- 
parisons with  more  recent  times.  That  is  a  most  entertaining  kind  of 
writing.     (Sep.  30,  1785.) 

"In  general,"  adds  the  person  of  quality,  **I  have  seldom  wasted 
time  on  the  origin  of  nations,  unless  for  an  opportunity  of  smiling  at 
the  gravity  of  the  author,  or  at  the  absurdity  of  the  manners  of  those 
ages ;  for  absurdity  and  bravery  compose  most  of  all  the  anecdotes 
we  have  of  them,  except  the  accounts  of  what  they  never  did,  nor 
thought  of  doing."  There  is  much  good  sense  in  this.  But  it  smacks 
of  irreverence  to  the  ear  of  the  serious  modern  historian.  He 
does  not  think  that  he  confers  a  favour  on  early  history  by 
"  embroidering "  thereon  the  "  opinions  and  episodes "  of  the 
nineteenth  century ! 

As  to  fictitious  discourses,  and  witty  sayings,  these  are  foibles 
derived  from  the  ancient  classics  which  accordingly  received  new 
life  at  the  Renaissance.  Thus  the  historiographer  of  Henri  Quatre 
informs  us  in  the  preface  to  one  of  his  volumes,  how  such  a  function- 
ary ought  to  set  about  his  business.  His  work,  we  read,  was  to  be 
adorned  with  a  mosaic  of  good  things  drawn  from  the  best  Greelc 

R 


242  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

and  Latin  authors.  Needless  to  say,  this  artificial  habit  reacted  upon 
the  history.  Its  heroes  would  soon  be  found  doing  the  things  best 
described  by  Liv)',  illustrating  the  moral  maxims  of  Sallust  or 
Tacitus,  and  uttering  eloquent  reflections,  not  because  they  did 
make,  but  because  with  a  proper  regard  for  the  entertainment  of 
posterity,  they  should  have  made  them.^ 

This,  in  fact,  is  one  of  the  reasons  for  regret  that  such  a  large  pro- 
portion of  our  early  histories  are  written  in  what  was  till  Johnson's 
time  the  language  of  humanity,  and  is  still  perhaps  that  of  the 
scholastic  world. 

For  so  many  distinguished  authors,  especially  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, were  so  carried  away  by  the  newly  invented  pleasure  of  Avriting 
Latin,  so  intoxicated,  in  the  worst  cases,  with  the  exuberance  of  a 
Ciceronian  verbosity,  that  style  often  occupied  their  attention  to  the 
exclusion  of  fact.  Hence  we  come  to  regard  with  suspicion  and 
alarm  any  early  historian  who,  like  Cardinal  Bembo,  is  lauded  by 

^  It  is  a  different  matter  when  a  historic  personage  himself  takes  to  imitating 
one  or  other  of  the  heroes  of  antiquity.  Since  of  all  nations  the  French  are  prob- 
ably the  most  imitative,  and  of  all  generations  that  of  the  French  Revolution  was- 
the  one  most  anxious  to  find  respectable  precedents  for  its  conduct,  one  is  hardly 
surprised  to  find  what  seems  a  remarkable  example  of  this  tendency  in  the  harangue 
addressed  by  General  Dumouriez  to  his  disaffected  troops  at  Grand-Pre : — 

"  As  for  you,  for  I  will  neither  call  you  citizens  nor  soldiers,  nor  my  men  (mes 
enfans)y  you  see  before  you  this  artillery,  behind  you  this  cavalry.  ...  I  know 
that  there  are  scoundrels  among  you  charged  to  encourage  you  in  crime  ;  dismiss 
them  yourselves,  or  denounce  them  to  me.     I  hold  you  responsible  for  them." 

It  seems  hardly  possible  that  Dumouriez,  whose  mind  was  saturated  with  the 
classics,  and  who,  when  not  engaged  in  war  or  travel,  lived,  as  he  tells  us,  among 
his  boolis,  and  re-read  Plutarch  every  year,  should  not  have  been  thinking  of  the 
most  celebrated  passage  in  Tacitus,  if  not  in  all  Latin  prose,  the  speech,  that 
is,  of  Germanicus  to  the  mutinous  legion — "Quod  nomen  huic  coetui  dabof 
Militesne  appellem  ?  .  .  .  .  an  cives  ?  .  .  .  .  discedite  a  contactu,  et  dividite 
turbidos ;  id  stabile  ad  pcenitentiam,  id  fidei  vinculum  erit."  See  Tacitus, 
Annals,  \.  ^2;  Vie  de  Dumouriez  {x'j'^i^,  iii.  157.  Mi!moires  [^i']<)^  pref.  The 
three  volumes  of  the  Vie  are  completed  by  the  (previously  published)  two  volumes 
of  the  MimoireSt 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  243 

contemporaries  for  his  classical  taste.  One  always  wishes  that  these^ 
authors  had  written  in  their  native  language,  or  that  like  Mariana, 
who  first  wrote  his  history  in  Latin  in  order  to  acquire  a  prose  style, 
they  had  had  the  industry  to  translate  their  own  works,  and  thusj 
leave  an  original  text  in  the  vulgar.  The  idols  of  epigram  and 
antithesis  (apart  from  other  temptations)  have,  even  in  our  own  en- 
lightened days,  now  and  then  distracted  a  historian  from  the  paths 
of  candour  and  self-restraint ;  and  certainly  the  attractions  of  a  fluent 
and  effective  style  had  a  far  greater  influence  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  We  all  remember  how  Gibbon  tells  us  that  "  he  arrived  at 
Oxford  with  a  stock  of  erudition  that  might  have  puzzled  a  doctor, 
and  a  degree  of  ignorance  of  which  a  schoolboy  would  have  been 
ashamed  " ;  but  the  fact  is  that  Gibbon  (and  certain  other  writers  who 
only  resembled  him  in  this  respect)  rarely  arrived  any\vhere,  even 
at  the  simplest  historical  statement,  with  (so  to  speak)  only  one 
bound,  more  particularly  when  uttering  general  reflections  upon 
dark  and  distant  ages  "  couched  "'  in  the  subjunctive  mood.^  Even 
the  pungent  double-barrelled  wit  of  Macaulay  irresistibly  suggests 
now  and  then  to  the  reader's  mind  that  the  whole  class  of  sub- 
stantives in  employment  must  have  "struck"  for  equal  adjectival 
wages,  and  got  them.  Not  to  consider  such  matters  too  curiously, 
the  inexperienced  historian  will  do  well  to  remember  the  cynical  and 
reticent  Mr.  Scrooge's  reply  to  the  improving  discourse  of  Marley's 
Ghost — "Don't  be  flowery,  Jacob." 

An  eminent  professor  recently  published  a  series  of  lectures  which 
he  had  delivered  before  a  guileless  university  audience,  in  one  of 
which  occurred  the  following  typical  passage  :  "  About  this  time  the 

1  This  way  of  writing  is  closely  connected  with  that  use  of  the  ' '  Broad  A " 
ridiculed  by  the  Rev.  Sydney  Smith — "  Who,  O  gracious  Heaven  !"  he  asks,  "are 
a  Bennet,  a  C>Til  Jackson,  a  Martin  Routh?"  But  it  would  perhaps  be  less 
excusable  to  ask,  "  Who  are  a  Theodoric,  a  Jovian,  a  Belisarius  " — or  whatever 
the  names  are  which  sound  so  well  in  certain  familiar  passages  of  what  may  be 
called  historical  declamation  ? 

R   2 


244  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

young  Earl  of ,  riding  down  the  leafy  lanes  of ,  was  met 

and  cut  down  by  a  party  of  Roundheads,"  which,  we  take  it, 
smacks  as  much  of  orthodox  English  history  as  the  paragraph  re- 
peated by  "  Alice "  in  Wonderland,  and  beginning  "  Edwin  and 
Morcar,  the  Earls  of  Mercia  and  Northumbria."  But  a  truculent  and 
hostile  reviewer,  entering  upon  the  picturesque  scene,  pointed  out 
with  ill-controlled  exultation  that,  apart  from  other  inaccuracies,  the 
Earl  of  Shrewsbury  in  question  (whose  title  was,  it  seems,  correctly 
given)  being  fifty-four  years  of  age,  was  no  longer  young ;  that  "  the 
lanes " — it  being  January — were  "  presumably  not  leafy  "  ;  and, 
finally,  that  the  Earl  was  not  "  met "  or  "  cut  down,"  but  (though 
that  is  little  matter  to  us  in  the  year  1895)  "  shot  with  a  musket  ball 
as  he  was  endeavouring  to  escape."  Such  is  the  conflict  between 
"  old-world "  romance  and  nineteenth-century  actuality :  such  the 
perils  that  environ  the  careless  dabbler  in  history.  Behind  every 
leafy  hedge  lurks  a  specialist  armed  to  the  teeth  with  "  original 
authorities,"  and  ready  to  cut  down  the  ill-equipped  straggler. 

A  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  if  an  author  merely  maintained  a 
dignified  tone,  no  one  ventured  to  make  rude  remarks. 

It  has  been  seen  what  Voltaire  could  do  in  the  way  of  adorning 
history.  Paolo  Giovio,  a  valued  historian  of  an  earlier  epoch,  took 
an  even  stronger  line,  as  Guillaume  Bouchet  tells  us.  When  taxed 
with  fabrication,  he  replied  that  he  did  not  care ;  for  a  hundred  years 
hence  no  one  would  know  any  better,  and  every  one  would  believe 
what  was  "couched  in  his  history."  Giovio  was  right,  but  he  did 
not  look  quite  far  enough  ahead. 

"  Mots  "  which  have  their  origin  in  the  corruption  of  the  text,  and 
not  of  the  author,  are  obviously  of  less  significance ;  and  of  these 
Foumier  provides  one  example,  drawn  from  Chateaubriand,  a  writer 
not  much  to  be  relied  upon  in  matters  of  fact.  In  flowery  language 
Chateaubriand  described  the  dark  and  stormy  night  on  which  Philip 
of  Valois,  flying  from  the  battlefield  of  Cre'cy,  knocked  at  the  gates  of 
the  Chateau  of  Broye,  exclaiming,  "  Open^  open  !    'Tis  the  Fortufie 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  245 

of  France  !  "  But  he  was  wrong.  It  was  only,  according  to  what  is 
considered  the  correct  text  of  Froissart,  "  ^Ae  unfortunate  King  of 
France.^'  We  confess  to  a  Hngering  hope  that  the  former  reading — 
"  c'est  la  Fortune  de  la  France  " — which  we  find  in  the  Sauvage 
edition  of  1559  (vol.  i.  p.  154),  may  turn  out  to  have  some  authority 
in  its  favour.  If  a  trifle  obscure,  it  is  more  dramatic,  like  a  host  of 
things  which  Cardinal  Richelieu,  Henry  IV.,  Talleyrand,  and  other 
less  famous  personages  on  certain  critical  occasions  abstained  from 
saying. 

All  kinds  of  observations,  from  the  Epigram  of  the  Hundred  Days 
— "  c'est  le  commencement  de  la  fin  " — down  to  the  most  trivial  of 
witticisms,  were  fathered  upon  Talleyrand,  whose  recently  published 
memoirs  seem  rather  to  have  disappointed  the  public.  Sometimes 
the  minister  was  surprised  at  his  own  wit.  Sometimes  the  genuine 
author  tried  to  assert  his  rights,  but  in  vain. 

It  would  be  a  pedantic  reflection  on  the  title  of  a  popular  novel  of 
the  day  to  repeat  that  there  is  no  authority  for  *y^  couvre  tout 
de  ma  robe  rouge.''  Yet  the  original  remark  appears  to  have  been, 
"  Jc  renverse  tout  avec  ma  soutane  rouge  " — a  different  idea.  It  is 
to  the  cardinal,  too,  that  we  often  hear  attributed  the  ruthless  response 
to  the  protest,  •'  Monseigneur,  il  faut  vivre  "  (or  rather,  "  il  faut  bien 
que  je  vive") — "  Je  n'eri  vois  pas  la  ndcessite."  But,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  this  was  said  by  the  Comte  d'Argenson  to  the  despicable  Abbe 
Des  Fontaines,  whom  he  deterred  by  threats  of  prosecution  from  his 
favourite  occupation  of  libelling  Voltaire.^  As  to  Henri  Quatre,  who 
has  been  victimised  enough  by  the  sententious  Hardouin  de  Perefixe 
and  others,  he  did  not  personally  deal  much  in  maxims  of  the  copy- 
book order.  One  of  the  few  genuine  remarks  recorded  of  him  is 
that  addressed  to  his  staff"  at  the  battle  of  Coutras  (where,  as  at  Ivry,  he 
wore  long  plumes),  and  recorded  by  Brantome.  "  Get  out  of  the  light," 
he  said,  "/  want  to  be  seen  !  "  (ne  m'ofi'usquez  pas  :  je  veux  paroistre). 

»  D'Ai|[enson,  M<f moires,  ed.  1825,  p.  76.     Foumier  does  not  mention  this. 


246  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

How  different  is  this  kind  of  exclamation,  which  no  one  would  have 
dreamed  of  inventing,  from  such  apocryphal  vanities  as  that  attri- 
buted by  Southey  to  Nelson  a  propos  of  the  uniform  "  with  four 
stars  "  which  he  did  not  wear  at  Trafalgar.^ 

Having  mentioned  Trafalgar,  it  would  be  impossible  not  to  refer  to 
the  celebrated  signal  with  which  Nelson,  when  all  necessary  prepara- 
tions had  been  made,  "  amused  "  the  British  fleet  before  his  last  and 
greatest  victory.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  fact.  But  in 
the  entertaining  naval  reminiscences  of  Rear-Admiral  Hercules 
Robinson  ^  (who  was  present  as  a  midshipman  on  board  Blackwood's 
vessel,  the  Euryalus)  we  read  what  seems  a  correction  of  the  tradi- 
tional account.  "  Lord  Nelson's  '  England  expects,'  &c.,  was  sublime, 
but  then  here  is  the  historical  lie,  '  //  was  received  throughout  the  fleet 
with  shouts  of  acclamation,  and  excited  an  u?ibounded  enthusiasm.'' 
Why,  it  was  noted  in  the  signal-book  and  in  the  logs,  and  that  was  all 
about  it ;  we  certainly  never  heard  one  word  about  it  in  our  ship  till .  .  . 
our  return  to  Englafid."  There  were  other  signals  of  less  historic  interest 
which  the  author  remembered  well  being  addressed  to  the  captains  of 
his  own  and  other  vessels :  "  I — rely — upon — your — keeping — sight — 
of — the — enemy,"  and  a  "sagacious  order  "given  before  going  into 

^  See  Arnold's  Lectures  on  Modern  History,  1843,  Lecture  viii.,  which  deals 
largely  with  the  subject  here  considered. 

"  In  honour  I  gained  them,  and  in  honour  I  will  die  with  them,"  says  Southey 
(Life  of  Nelson,  Bohn's  ed.,  1861,  p.  366).  What  Nelson  did  say  was,  as  Arnold 
had  it,  through  Captain  Smyth,  from  Hardy  himself,  that  it  ivas  too  late  then 
to  think  of  changing  a  coat.     But  his  language  (v.  post)  was  often  less  simple. 

"^  Sea-Drift  (with  fine  portrait  of  the  author,  plan  of  battle  of  Trafalgar,  &c. ) 
by  Rear-Admiral  Robinson — 8vo,  blue  cloth,  Portsea,  1858 — a  volume  of  miscel- 
laneous yarns  and  reminiscences  of  the  greatest  interest. 

In  the  review  in  the  Quarterly  (vol.  109,  p.  308)  of  M.  Foumier's  work,  entitled 
"Pearls  and  Mock  Pearls  of  Histoiy,"  the  author  (Abraham  Hayward)  wanders 
into  so  vast  a  field  as  to  be  almost  bewildering.  But  of  "  England  expects,"  &c., 
he  merely  observes,  "  Doubt  has  been  thrown  upon  the  celebrated  signal  of 
Nelson,"  without  saying  where  or  by  whom,  but  presumably  referring  to  this 
account  published  only  two  years  before. 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  247 

action:     "Paint — the — hoops — of — your  —  masts — white."      The 
enemy's  were  black. 

Admiral  Robinson  himself,  by  the  way,  makes  some  interesting 
reflections  upon  the  "  taste  for  orationising,"  imbibed,  as  he  thought, 
from  Roman  history.  The  best  speech  he  could  remember  was  that 
of  "  Old  Maples  "  when  he  took  the  Argus  in  the  Pelican  in  18 14 — 
"  Send  all  hands  aft !  My  lads,  there's  the  Argus,  no  doubt  about  it ; 
and  now,  my  lads,  if  you  don't  take  the  Argus,  my  lads,  why  then, 
my  lads — why  then,  my  lads — why  then,  my  lads — f/ie  Argus  will  take 
you.  Pipe  down."  "  Old  Maples  "  was  perhaps  ignorant  to  what  an 
extent  this  theme  might  have  been  expanded  by  a  classical  orator. 
Some  of  the  bravest  and  most  practical  of  men  (the  Admiral  acutely 
observes)  wrote  and  spoke  in  a  highly  ornamented  and  even  boastful 
style.  "  Wellington  wrote  like  a  log-book,  but  he  was  sui  generis  ; 
almost  all  other  commanders  affected  fine  writing  or  simplicity." 
Admiral  Watson's  "  We  fell  in  with  the  enemy's  fleet,  burned,  sunk, 
and  destroyed  as  per  margin  "  seemed  to  the  author  as  unnatural  as 
Collingwood's  "beautiful"  description  of  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar  was, 
as  a  source  of  history,  incorrect  and  misleading.  "  Old  Cuddie  "  was, 
in  fact,  more  at  home  walking  the  poop  of  his  vessel,  "  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  ahead  of  her  second  astern,"  and  serenely  "munching  an  apple,'' 
before  she  glided  in^o  action  (her  first  broadside  killed  350  men),  than 
when  elaborating  an  ex  post  facto  theory  of  "that  irregular  battle." 
Men  of  action  have  usually  rather  inclined  to  the  style  of  "  Old 
Maples  "  in  moments  of  emergency,  as  appears  from  the  example 
given  above  of  Henry  IV.  He  may  or  may  not  have  estimated  aloud 
the  comparative  value  of  Paris  and  a  certain  religious  observance,  but  , 
it  was  the  faithful  and  economical  Sully,  and  not  the  King,  who  made  1 
the  reflection  which  should  have  occurred  to  our  own  James  II.  ;* ' 
"  Sire,  sire,  la  couronne  vaut  bien  une  messe." 

^  In  fact,  the  Archbishop  of  Rheinis,  brother  of  the  minister  Louvois,  did  speak 
scornfully  of  the  Royal  exile  as  one  who  "  lost  three  kingdoms  for  a  mass." 

Voltaire,  Louis  XIV.,  ed.  1820,  i.  299. 


24S  THE  AVIT  OF  HISTORY. 

Historic  sayings  are  difficult  to  classify ;  but  of  all  the  dicta  directly 
connected  with  celebrated  characters  in  history,  probably  none  is 
more  famous  than  the  spontaneous  outburst  of  the  Hungarian  nobility 
when,  in  the  great  hall  at  Presburg  (September  1741),  they  rallied 
round  the  lone  and  heroic  figure  of  the  Empress,  and,  drawing  their 
swords,  exclaimed,  "  Moriamur  pro  rege  nostra  "  (so  we  may  read  it 
italicised  in  Alison  and  elsewhere)  "Maria  Theresa."  There  is  a 
certain   piquancy  in  the  generic   license   of    the   Latin   which  has 

captivated  thousands  of  readers. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that,  for  his  estimate  of  the  character  of  the  pious 

and   courageous   Maria  Theresa,  Alison   cites   on   the   same   page 
Wraxall's  Memoirs}  which  give  a  graphic   account  of  the  whole 

episode,  on  the  authority  of  persons  of  the  highest  quality.     "  I  never 

saw  any,"  writes  Sir  Nathaniel  (ed.  1799,  vol.  ii.  p.  295),  "who  could 

mention  it  without  emotion.     AH  asserted  that  the  scene  was  the 

most  touching  to  be  conceived." 

So  far,  so  good.      The  Queen,  previously  crowned   as  Kifig,  in 

evasion  of  the  Hungarian  custom  which  excluded  females  from  the 

throne,  addressed  the  Diet  in  excellent  Latin. 

"Agittir  de  regno  Hungariae,  de  persoiia  nostra^''  she  began 

'■'■  ab  om7iibiis  derelicti,  u?iice  ad  indytonun  stafmim  fidelitatem,  arina,  et 

Hiingaroruvi  priscam  virtutem  C07ifugivius." 


^  The  Memoirs,  that  is,  of  the  Courts  of  Berlin,  Dresden,  Warsaw,  and  Vienna 
(1777-1779),  2  vols.,  8vo,  1799:  see  vol.  2,  p.  295.  These  volumes,  which  are 
of  the  greatest  value  and  interest,  and  in  particular  give  the  most  minute  account 
of  Maria  Theresa  and  the  Austrian  Court,  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
Sir  N.  W.  Wraxall's  Historical  Memoirs  of  my  oivn  time  (1772-1784),  the  first 
edition  of  which  (with  portrait,  2  vols.,  Cadell,  1815,  containing  the  passages 
afterwards  suppressed,  i.  205 — Bindley;^!  5^^.,  Strettell  ;^i  \%s.)  lies  before  us. 
This  work,  containing  an  atrocious  libel  on  Count  Woronzow  (Lowndes's  Biblio- 
grapher''s  Afamial  says  Prince  Gortschakofif!)  for  which  the  author  was  prosecuted 
and  imprisoned,  met  with  a  severe  and  apparently  well-deserved  castigation  from 
both  the  Edinburgh  Review  (xxv.  178)  and  the  Quarterly  (xiii.  196)  as  a  repository 
of  slander,  stale  news,  and  second-hand  gossip  ;  but  contains,  of  course,  a  good 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  249 

"  We  all,"  continues  Wraxall's  informant,  "  as  if  animated  by  one 
soul,  drew  our  sabres,  exclaiming  unanimously — (what  does  the  reader 
expect  ?) — '  Vitam  et  sanguinem  pro  majestate  vestrd.'  "  There  seems 
no  reason  to  discredit  this  account,  A  German  critic  (cited  in  Dyer's 
INIodern  Europe)  questions  the  sword-drawing,  and  seems  to  prove 
that  the  romantic  details  represent  a  confused  account  of  several 
different  scenes. 

Such  an  inaccuracy  in  the  account  of  a  notorious  episode  in  the 
last  century  leaves  us  little  room  for  confidence  as  to  the  most  cele- 
brated dramatic  utterances  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Two  or  three 
examples  of  these — to  dismiss  specimens  which  have  little  historical 
interest — are  worth  discussing.  If  Edward  III.,  when  landing  on  the 
coast  of  France,  is  related  to  have  made  much  the  same  observation 
as  both  Julius  Caesar  and  William  the  Conqueror  did  of  Great 
Britain,  this  need  not  rouse  much  suspicion  ;  for  like  situations  tend 
to  produce  like  sayings  and  doings.^  Nor  perhaps  is  the  inquiry  of 
much  importance  whether  Jacques  Molay,  the  Grand  Master  of  the 
Templars,  when  burning  at  the  stake  in  13 14,  did  or  did  not  utter 
the  prophecy  often  attributed  to  him.  "  I  have  read,"  says  Me'zeray, 
in  his  ponderous  abridgment  of  the  History  of  France,  "  that  the 
Grand  Master,  having  only  his  tongue  free,  and  half  stifled  with  smoke, 
cried  aloud,*  Clement,  cruel  and  unrighteous  butcher,  I  challenge  thee 
to  appear  in  forty  days  before  the  Judge  of  all'  " 

Neither  the  chronicler  of  St.  Denis,  nor  Villani,  who  describes  the 
execution  in  detail,"^  say  a  word  of  any  such  challenge.     But  lately  a 

many  anecdotes  which  are  worth  reading.  A  third  series,  the  commoner,  Post- 
Immous  Memoirs t  3  vols.,  appeared  in  1836. 

^  It  is  more  amusing  to  learn,  even  at  third-hand,  that  William  of  Orange  when 
he  landed,  began  a  popular  harangue  (in  which  it  is  hardly  conceivable  he  can  have 
proceeded  much  further)  with  the  suggestive  sentence  :  "  We  have  come  for  your 
good,  for  all yoitr goods."  Spence's  Anecdotes,  ed.  1820,  p.  337.  Spence  had  this 
from  Nathaniel  Hooke,  who  was  born  in  1690. 

^  Giovanni  Villani  (a  contemporary,  for  he  only  died  in  1348)  merely  record 
Molay's  exclamation  that  he  deserved  death  for  having  been  lured  into  a  con- 


^50  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY- 

rhymed  chronicle,  presumably  Me'zeray's  only  authority,  has  been 
unearthed  which  gives  the  story  in  detail. 

The  coincidence  that  both  King  and  Pope  died  shortly  after  the 
■Grand  Master  was  exactly  one  of  those  facts  strongly  influencing 
popular  imagination  which  a  romancist  was  bound  to  deal  with.  A 
metrical  chronicle,  if  we  recollect  right,  was  a  principal  "  authority  " 
involved  in  the  controversy  which  raged  during  the  past  year  in  the 
pages  of  a  contemporary  review,  and  indeed  seems  to  be  not  yet 
extinct,  as  to  whether  our  Saxon  ancestors  at  "  Senlac  "  fought  behind 
a  palisade  or  in  the  open.  The  former  hypothesis,  which  perhaps 
does  not  seriously  reflect  upon  the  national  courage,  seemed  to  be 
gaining  the  day,  but  to  base  such  a  fact  upon  a  mere  romance  of  the 
time  would  be  little  better  than  basing  a  fact  in  modern  politics  upon 
one  of  Disraeli's  novels  ;  not  that  the  rhymed  chronicle  was  not  often 
more  prosaic  and  less  imaginative  than  the  dullest  modern  prose. 
But  while  it  is  a  common  case  that,  as  M.  Fournier  quotes  from 
Beaumarchais,  "anciens  petits  mensonges  assez  mal  plantes  07it 
produit  de  grosses,  grosses  verites,"  ^  all  persons  acquainted  with  the 
"  Twins  "  and  *'  Nova  Scotia  Sheep  "  myth  evolved  in  the  School  for 
Scandal  understand  how  a  chance  word  or  suggestion  sometimes  sets 
a  complete  story  going.  Thus,  to  take  an  example,  stumbled  on  at 
haphazard,  in  Murray's  Guide  is  an  exciting  note  concerning  the  villa 
■of  Vedius  PoUio,  near  Naples,  and  the  huge  lamprey  kept  in  his  fish- 
pond and  '■^fed  upon  the  flesh  of  disobedient  slaves."  This  should  make 
the  modern  reader's  flesh  creep.  The  story  will  be  found,  where  we 
should  expect  to  find  such  stories,  in  Guyon's  Diverses  Lecons,  Lyon, 
8vo,  1610;  and  further  back  still,  in  Pietro  Crinito's  treatise  De  honestd 
disciplina  (i.e.,  de  omnibus  rebus  et  quibusdam  aliis),  on  p.  23  of  the 
fine  edition  printed  by  Nicolas  de  Barra  in  15 18.  The  "original 
authority  "  is  apparently  the  anecdote  given  by  Seneca  in  the  dialogue 


fession  by  the  flattering  artifices  of  the  Pope  and  the  King — Philip  the  Fair. 
^toria,  viii.  92. 

^  Mariage  de  Figaro,  iv.  i. 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  251 

De  Ira,  where,  by  the  way^  a  fund  of  entertainment  is  to  be  found. 
The  Emperor  Augustus  was  one  day  dining  with  Pollio,  and  a  slave 
happened  to  break  a  glass,  upon  which  Pollio  in  a  rage  conceived  the 
idea  of  ordering  him  to  be  thrown  into  the  fishpond.  The  slave, 
however,  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  Augustus,  begging  to  be  allowed 
to  die  any  death — ^^modo  ne  esca  fieret" — only  not  to  be  used  as  live 
bait.  The  Emperor,  "struck  by  the  novelty  of  such  a  punishment," 
ordered  every  glass  in  the  house  to  be  broken,  and  the  fishpond  to  be 
filled  up.     And  that  was  all. 

But  if  insignificant  and  doubtful  materials  have  often  been 
evolved  into  "  grosses,  grosses  v^rites,"  on  the  other  hand,  a  genuine 
fact  or  dictum  once  popularised  runs  considerable  risk,  if  its  original 
source  be  lost,  of  sharing  the  fate  of  the  fictions  with  which  it  has 
become  associated.  It  rather  appears  that  the  celebrated  and  touch- 
ing scene  of  Philip  Augustus  before  the  Battle  of  Bouvines  (1214) 
offering  to  give  up  his  royal  authority  to  any  one  whom  the  army 
might  consider  more  worthy  of  it  should  be  assigned  to  this  class. 
Thierry  devoted  a  whole  chapter  to  the  demolition  of  the  theatrical 
narratives  of  Anquetil  and  the  Abb^  Velly,  according  to  which  the 
monarch  laid  his  crown  upon  the  altar,  saying,  *'£//<?  est  au  plus 
digne"  and  the  host  responded  with  acclamations  of  "  Vive  Philippe, 
vive  le  roi  Auguste."  Thierry  quotes  at  length  ^  the  account  (of  the 
preparation  for  the  battle)  given  by  the  chaplain,  Gulielmus  Armoricus 
who  stood  "just  behind  the  King  and  close  by  him  "  ;  and  yet  says 
not  a  word  of  the  matter,  which,  in  any  case,  is  curious.  But  appar- 
ently Thierry  had  not  seen  the  then  recently  published  Chronicle  of 
Rheims^  containing  an  impressive  and  far  more  credible  description 

^  Lettres  sur  FHist.  de  France,  L.  i.,  7th  ed.,  1842  ;  and  Dtirtiy,  Hist,  de  Fr. 
It  must  be  remembered,  of  course,  that  the  "  Hellenically  "  emotional  impulse 
which  induces  a  native  historian  to  prefer  the  most  self-conscious  and  artificial 
version  of  such  an  utterance,  also  operated  upon  the  characters  in  his  history. 
For  a  curious  and  pathetic  expression  of  "  French  "  feeling  (upon  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War),  see  the  preface  to  the  work  last  cited  (ed.  1873). 

2  La  Chronique  de  Rains.    Publiee  d'apres  le  MS.  unique  de  la  Bibliotheque 


252  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

of  the  scene — a  scene  in  itself,  as  Duruy  thinks,  deeply  significant  of 
the  danger  in  which  the  French  King  and  his  army  were  placed — but 
which  was  embellished  by  later  hands  into  an  object  of  historic 
suspicion. 

But  there  is  another  and  more  celebrated  medijeval  utterance 
which,  embodying  as  it  does  the  expression  of  a  fanaticism  and  in- 
tolerance hardly  intelligible  at  the  present  day,  has  a  permanent 
historical  interest.  In  our  own  civilised  age,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Archaeological  Society  of  Beziers  (in  1844),  a  certain  M.  Henri  Julia 
was  reading  a  paper  upon  the  sack  of  that  city  at  the  outset  of  the 
crusade  against  the  Albigeois  (July  1209),  and  he  had  just  quoted 
the  atrocious  words  attributed  to  the  papal  legate  Milo  (words,  by 
the  way,  which  read  perhaps  better  in  English  than  in  French),  "  Kill 
kill  them  all  :  God  will  knoiu  His  own  !  "  when  a  young  priest  rose 
in  the  audience  and  cried  out,  "  That  is  false.  It  has  been  dis- 
proved "  ;  and  a  "  scene  "  ensued,  of  which  it  need  merely  be  said 
that  the  chairman  does  not  seem  to  have  supported  the  lecturer. ^ 

The  interruption,  if  not  an  unnatural  one,  was  not  exactly  correct. 
The  best  historians  of  our  day  repeat  the  allegation.  "Then,"  says 
Dean  Milman,  describing  the  episode,  "  was  uttered  the  frightful 
command,  'Slay  them  all.  God  will  know  His  own.'"  And 
Sismondi  writes  :  "  It  was  Arnold,  abbot  of  the  Cistercians,  who,  when 

Roi,  par  Louis  Paris,  8vo,  1837.  Seep.  148.  "Quant  li  baron  I'oirent  ensi 
parler,  si  comencerent  a  plorer  de  pitie  et  disent :  '  Sire,  pour  Dieu  merchi.  Nous 
ne  volons  roi  se  vous  non.' "  The  author  of  this  interesting  chronicle  has  recorded 
a  favourite  oath  of  Philippe-Auguste  which  is,  says  the  learned  editor,  men- 
tioned nowhere  else — "/*a/-  la  lance  Saint-/aquc."  (As  to  other  royal  oaths, 
cf.  Brant ome,  ed,  1740,  vi.  277.)  Here  also  will  be  found  (ch.  viii.)  the  original 
and  full  account  of  BlondeTs^discovei-y  and  rescue  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion, 
which  was  previously  known  only  from  Claude  Fauchet's  Reciieil  de  torigine  de 
la  langiu  it  Foisie  Fraitfaise,  4to,  1581,  "ouvrages  estime  et  peu  commun." 
Fauchet,  the  interest  of  whose  book  is  due  in  part  to  his  having  had  access  (it  is 
said)  to  various  MSS.  now  lost,  quotes  a  MS.  version  of  the  fifteenth  century,  in 
his  possession,  apparently  copied  from  the  above. 
^  Fonrnier,  p.  62, 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  253 

asked  how  heretics  should  be  distinguished  from  Catholics,  replied, 
'  Kill  them  all.     God  will  know  those  that  belong  to  Him.' "  ^ 

The  remark,  attributed  to  one  person  or  the  other,  is  recorded  by 
several  contemporary  authorities.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  induct 
mentioned  by  those  whose  authority  would, />rwid  fade,  be  the^best, 
that  is  the  native  chroniclers  of  the  country,  nor  by  Pierre  de  Vaux 
Cernay,2  //^^  authority  par  excellence,  an  eye-witness  of  the  whole 
transaction,  who  would,  it  is  urged,  have  been  proud  to  record  it. 
This  to  readers  acquainted  with  the  barbarous  invective  and  blood- 
thirsty sarcasms  of  that  orthodox  writer  will  not  seem  at  all  incredible ; 
but  after  all  he  might  not  have  heard  the  words,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  doomed  city  certainly  would  not  have  heard  them  if  they  were 
uttered  before  the  attack.  Therefore  there  remains  little  reason  for 
doubt  that  one  or  other  of  the  crusading  leaders  did  utter  a  remark  I 
which,  if  not  devoid  of  originality  and  wit,  would  at  least  have  come 
more  suitably  from  the  mouth  of  a  layman. 

The  subject  of  persecution  naturally  recalls  another  historical 
question  which,  except  in  so  far  as  any  striking  fact  supplies  histor- 
ians with  material  for  a  sensational  statement,  seems  hardly  to  form 
part  of  M.  Fournier's  subject-matter. 

^  Sismondi,  Literature  of  Southern  Europe,  i.  ch.  6.  Milman's  Latin  Christi- 
anity, ed.  1883,  i.  429. 

^  Historia  Albigensium  et  sacri  belli  in  eos  anno  1 209  suscepti,  duct  et  principe 
Simone  h  Monteforte,  &c.,  8vo,  Trecis,  1615,  ch.  xv.  This  first  edition  of  a  work 
not  more  remarkable  for  the  hideous  tragedies  it  describes,  than  for  the  fanatical 
atrocity  of  the  author's  frame  of  mind,  one  has  some  difficulty  in  procuring.  A 
French  translation  was  published  in  1 569.  And  the  short  chronicle  entitled  Praclara 
Francorum  Facinora  ....  con\.T2i.  orthodoxie  Jidei  hastes,  sm.  Svo,  n.d.  {Panzer, 
Ann.  Typ.  iv.  132,  524)  is  a  distinctly  rare  book.  The  anonymous  history 
in  Proven9al  prose  {Hist,  des  Guerres  des  Albigeois,  etc.,  avec  introduction  par 
un  indighie,  Thoulouse,  1863 — some  curious  specimens  of  provincial  animosity 
are  preserved  in  the  preface),  which  is  probably  a  fourteenth-century  reproduction 
of  a  contemporary  chronicle  (as  Sismondi,  who  quotes  the  awful  description  of  the 
sack  of  the  city  as  a  specimen  of  thirteenth-century  prose,  seems  not  to  have 
noticed),  certainly  seems  to  assert  (p.  6)  that  "  Senhor  Milo  "  died  of  a  "  certana 
malaudia  "  before  the  Crusaders  reached  B^ziers. 


254  TFIE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

It  is  said,  to  return  to  that  age  of  excitement  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, that  Charles  IX.,  whether  he  did  or  did  not  write  the  poem 
assigned  to  him,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Day,  "fired  upon  the  flying  Huguenots  with  an  arquebus 
from  the  window  of  his  apartment  in  the  Louvre." 

Where  should  we  expect  to  find  the  origin  of  such  a  story  ? 
Scarcely  in  the  life  of  that  pious  monarch  by  his  chaplain  Antoine 
Sorbin,  misnamed  de  Saincte  Foy}  but  of  coiirse  in  the  memoirs  of 
Brantome. 

And  there  it  will  duly  be  found.  Charles  IX.,  Brantome  tells  us, 
when  once  his  consent  to  the  proposed  massacre  had  been  obtained, 
took  up  the  idea  with  enthusiasm,  "  so  much  so  that  whilst  the  game 
was  going  on  at  break  of  day,  the  King,  seeing  some  Huguenots  who 
were  running  about  and  trying  to  escape,  took  a  great  arquebus  that 
he  used  in  hunting,  and  discharged  it  right  at  them,  but  to  no  purpose. 
The  arquebus  would  not  carry  so  far T  This  last  touch  has  certainly 
the  air  of  veracity.  The  objections  of  various  French  critics  are 
based  upon  an  architectural  argument  too  long  to  be  here  rehearsed. 
But  if  that  part  of  the  Louvre  to  which  popular  tradition  assigned  the 
act,  when,  in  1793,  an  inscription  was  erected  to  commemorate  the 
royal  infamy,  did  not  exist  in  1572,  this  may  surely  mean  only  that  pop- 
ular tradition  was  wrong,  as  it  constantly  is.  The  particular  room  or 
window  is  hardly  the  essence  of  the  story,  as  it  is,  for  example,  of  the 
legend  that  Henry  III,  died  from  the  poisoned  dagger  of  Jacques 
Clement  in  the  very  apartment  and  on  the  very  day  in  and  on  which 
he  had   eighteen    years  before  ^  taken  part  in  the   council   which 

^  Abrigi  de  la  vie,  ttiosurs,  et  vertiis  du  Roy  trcs  Chrestien  et  dehonnaire  Charles 
IX. ,  Tjrayement  piteux  (sic),  propugnatair  de  la  Foy  Catholique  et  amateur  de  lions 
esprits,  a  Lyon,  chez  Ben.  Rigaud,  1574.  But  this  {rare)  volume — my  copy  wants 
part  of  the  preface — contains  many  curious  anecdotes  of  the  time,  and  details  of 
the  King's  private  life.  See  also  Brantdme,  ed.  1 740,  vol.  ix.  427.  Mt'vioires  de 
PEstat  de  France,  etc.,  3  vols.,  1578,  i.  294.  This  latter  is,  I  believe,  the  most 
J  copious  and  circumstantial  account  of  the  massacre  in  existence. 

^  See  a  note  of  L'Ecluse's  to  Sully's  Memoirs,  vol.  i.  and  p.  180  ante. 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  255 

planned  the  massacre.  And  the  central  fact — the  shooting — is  sup- 
ported by  a  good  deal  of  contemporary  evidence.  L'Estoile,  whom 
Fournier  does  not  mention,  refers  to  the  King,  in  his  journal,  as 
"  potting "  {giboyant)  at  the  Calvinist  fugitives.  The  Mcmoires  de 
lEstat  de  France  (mentioned  above),  which  describe  the  Queen- 
Mother's  anxiety  lest  the  King  should  change  his  mind,  and  the 
accidental  precipitation  of  the  massacre,  mention  the  report  that  the 
King,  seeing  his  guards  in  the  street  shooting,  cried  out,  "  Let  us 
have  a  shot,  they  are  running  away  "  ;  and  fired  an  arquebus  which 
he  used  in  hunting.  They  also  state  that  Charles,  looking  out  of 
a  window,  and  struck  by  the  fineness  of  the  Sunday  and  Monday, 
remarked,  presumably  a  little  later,  that  the  "  weather  seemed  to  be 
rejoicing  at  the  destruction  of  the  Huguenots. '  (i.  318.)  De  Thou 
speaks  of  a  gun  or  cannon  being  fired  "  by  order  of  the  King,  as  it 
is  believed,"  which  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the  story. 
In  fine,  Voltaire,  in  a  note  to  the  second  edition  (1724)  of  the  tire- 
some epic  poem  afterwards  called  the  Henriade,  says  that  ever  so 
many  people  had  heard  the  story  from  the  Marquis  de  Tessd,  who 
died  in  1725  at  the  age  of  seventy-five,  and  who  had  it  from  the  very 
man  who,  as  a  boy,  loaded  the  arquebus.  What  more  could  we  ask 
but  the  arquebus  itself?  Seriously,  the  substance  of  the  story 
required  a  good  deal  of  invention. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  President  Renault,  who,  as  we 
have  seen,  deliberately  recorded  a  bon  mot  of  the  Grand  Monarque 
for  which  he  knew  there  was  no  authority  at  all,  at  first  admitted  this 
anecdote  of  Charles  IX.  to  his  abridgment,  qualified  by  a  '' dit-cn," 
and  finally  excluded  it  altogether. 

A  discussion  accidentally  started  the  other  day  upon  a  far  more 
ancient  subject-matter  reminds  one  that  there  may  be  sayings  in 
themselves  insignificant,  or  merely  epigrammatic,  which  have  become 
traditionally  famous  through  the  consequences  that  followed  them. 

Among  the  isolated  utterances  which  history  has  found  cause  to 
remember,  hardly  any  can  be  more  celebrated  than  that  immortalised 


256  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

by  Dante  as  the  origin  of  the  Guelf  and  Ghibellin  factions  in  Italy 
— "capo  ha  cosa  fatta,"  or,  as  it  runs  in  prose,  " cosa  fatta,  capo  ha." 

This  is  the  reflection  attributed  to  Mosca  de'  Lamberti  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  consultation  held  by  the  Amidei  and  their  friends  as  to 
how  they  should  revenge  themselves  upon  Messer  Buondelmonte  de' 
Buondelmonti  for  the  insult  put  upon  their  family  by  his  contempt- 
uous breach  of  promise  of  marriage.  It  is  worth  while  to  refer  to  the 
description  of  the  incident,  which  occurred  in  the  year  12x5,  given 
by  Giovanni  Villani  in  his  chronicle,  because  a  question  was  recently 
raised,  or  revived,  as  to  the  precise  meaning  of  the  remark,  which 
soon  passed  into  a  now  extinct  proverb. 

To  the  ordinary  reader  the  sense  in  which  Lamberti  must  have 
used  the  phrase  will  seem  inevitably  determined  by  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  spoke.  It  was  a  question  whether  the  insulter  of  the 
family  should  be  wounded  or  merely  beaten  {o  diferirlo,  o  di  batterlo  di 
man  vuote),  when  Mosca  de*  Lamberti,  breaking  in  on  the  discussion, 
exclaimed,  "  cosa  fatta  capo  ha  " ;  "  cio^  "  (as  the  chronicler  explains) 
^'  che  fosse  morto  " — "  e  cosi  fu  fatto  "  :  and  then  follow  the  details  of 
the  assassination. 

What  could  have  been  the  meaning  of  such  advice,  unless  it  were 
to  reject  both  the  suggested  alternatives  in  favour  of  more  drastic 
measures  which  would  finish  with  the  matter  once  for  all  ?  What  else 
could  be  the  point  of  the  exclamation  prefixed  by  Dante  to  the  "ill- 
omened  word  "  in  the  lines., 

"  Ricorderati  anche  del  Mosca 

Che  dissi,  lasso  !  capo  ha  cosa  fatta, 
Che  fu  '1  mal  seme  per  la  gente  Tosca"  ? 

It  has  been  suggested  that  (since  "  capo "  doubtless  means  a 
beginning,  as  well  as  a  "  head  and  crown ")  the  speaker  must 
have  meant,  not  that  "  a  thing  do?ie  is  done  with,  completed,"  but 
that  "  a  thing  done  paves  the  way  for  future  action "  (of  some 
quite  undefined  nature).  Could  there  be  a  more  pointless,  a  less 
emphatic  argument  in  favour  of  a  decided  course  of  action  ?   There 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  257 

is  force  in  comparing  an  action  "well  begun"  to  one  which  is 
"  half  done  " ;  but  to  compare  an  act  completely  executed  "  cossifatta  " 
to  the  beginning  of  something  else  unknown  and  indifferent,  is  surely 
neither  witty  nor  forcible.  The  speaker  in  1 2 1 5  was  not  thinking  of 
the  long  factions  destined  to  rage  between  Guelf  and  Ghibellin  in  the 
unknown  future,  but  of  settling  j^na//y  an  account  in  the  already  past. 
It  is  argued  that  the  question  was  whether  no  action  at  all  should  be 
taken,  or  some,  cosa  "  fatta."  But  Villani's  words  show  that  this 
was  precisely  not  the  point  in  dispute,  but  whether  half  measures  of 
some  kind  would  or  would  not  suffice,  whereupon  Mosca  gave  his 
vote  for  what  all  the  early  historians  understood  to  mean  "  la  mort 
sans  phrase."^ 

And  this  latter  dictum,  which  brings  us  back  quite  inevitably 
and  unintentionally  to  M.  Fournier  and  French  history,  this 
"  mala  parola "  attributed  to  the  Abbd  Sibyes,  is  to  be  added  to 
the  vast  catalogue  of  effective  sayings  which  yet  remain  unsaid  ; 
except,  that  is,  at  second-hand.  The  Abbe  Si^yes  did  indeed  vote 
for  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI.,  but  merely,  as  he  asserted,  with 
the  words,  "Za  mort."  The  rest  of  the  phrase  belonged,  he  thought, 
to   the  "indirect    oration"  of   some   reporter,  who  gave   a    more 

^  See  Aihenmum,  April  20,  1895  (reviewing  a  recent  work  on  Dante) ;  Ififemo, 
xxviii.  107  ;  Giovanni  Villani  Storia,  v.  38  ;  and  Ricordano  MaUspini  (the  almost 
contemporary  authority  whom  Villani  here,  as  often  elsewhere,  follows  almost 
verbatim),  ch.  104  (ed.  1598,  p.  90).  Vol  pi's  invaluable /woV^i  a't  Dante— Covosao, 
Padua,  1727  (revised  ed.  Venice,  1819) — and  the  Raccolta  di  Proverbi  Toscani  of 
Giuseppe  Giusti  (the  famous  satirist),  Florence,  1853. 

The  story  as  given  by  Bandello  (vol.  i.  novel  2 :  I  quote  the  edition  of  1566, 
which  is  presumably  reliable  in  this  matter)  is  that  at  the  family  conclave,  after 
certain  proposals  of  violence  and  bloodshed  had  been  put  forward  "vi  furono 
alcuni  che  discorrendo  i  mali  che  ne  potevano  seguire,  non  volevano  che  tanta  a 
furia  fosse  da  correre,  nia  da  pensarvi  piu  maturamenle.  Era  tra  i  congregati  il 
Mosca  Lamberti,  huomo  audacissimo  e  pronto  di  mano  il  quale  disse  che  chi 
pensava  diversi  partiti,  nessuno  ne  pigliava  :  e  sc^giunse  quella  volgata  sentenza," 
&c.  It  is  dangerous  to  attack  a  reviewer  in  his  native  fastnesses,  but  what  ground 
is  there  for  saying  that  "  comes  to  a  head  "  (a  special  and  medical  English  idiom) 
is  an  impartial  translation  of  "  capo  ha  "  ? 

S 


2S8  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

picturesque  turn,  as  Macaulay  sometimes  did  to  the  remarks  brought 
on  to  his  pages  in  inverted  commas,  to  the  original  text. 

We  are  here  clearly  declining  from  the  historical  to  the  purely  per- 
sonal "  historic  "  saying.  Among  these  none  is  more  familiar  than  the 
epigrammatic  "All  is  lost  but  honour"  {Tout  est  perdu  fors  Vhoniieur) 
of  the  most  light-hearted  of  French  monarchs.  But  most  people  are 
now  aware  that  Francis  I.  appended  to  the  famous  phrase  (in  his 
original  letter,  which  has  long  since  become  public  property)  the 
words,  "  and  my  life,  which  is  safe,"  an  addition  at  once  natural  in  a 
filial  epistle,  and  characteristic  of  the  author,  to  whom,  as  is  known 
from  subsequent  events,  honour  was  by  no  means  everything. 

Nor  need  we  here  rehearse  examples  of  the  common  "  supercherie 
litteraire  "  such  as  that  of  M.  Querlon  (editor,  by  the  way,  of  Mon- 
taigne's travels  in  Italy),  who  composed  for  an  anthology  of  1765,  and 
the  mere  fun  of  the  thing,  the  "  touching  lines  "  by  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  reprinted  in  certain  conventional  histories.  Of  such  fictions 
might  it  not  often  be  said — 

"  II  n'y  a  dans  de  telles  affaires  que  le  premier  pas  qui  coute," 

an  adage,  by  the  way,  which  might  seem  as  well  entitled  to 
examination  as  many  of  those  in  M.  Fournier's  work,^  though  he  does 
not  mention  it.     The  story  (concerning  the  progress  of  the  martyred 

^  Foumier  confines  himself  to  French  history.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say 
that  a  chapter  (of  less  general  interest)  might  have  been  added  upon  the  peculiar 
wit  of  Italy,  of  the  "  Pasquino  and  Marforio"  who,  as  Beckford  said,  "take  the 
place  of  Horace,  Juvenal,  and  Persius."  On  this  matter  the  reader  might 
consult  the  interesting  preface  to  Giuseppe  Belli's  Dtucento  Sonetti  in  dialetto 
Romanesco,  ed.  L.  Morandi,  Florence,  1870.  Most  of  the  satirical  jests  there  recorded 
concern  local  and  papal  abuses,  an  inexhaustible  subject,  but  not  all.  At  the  time 
of  the  French  invasion,  when  Napoleon  was  busily  transporting  so  many  priceless 
Italian  MSS.  and  works  of  art  to  Paris,  Marforio  inquires  of  his  colleague, 
"  Pasquino,  che  tempo  fa?"  E  quello  rispondeva  "  Uh  I  fa  un  tempo  da  ladri !  " 
and  a  few  days  later  "  Pasquino,  e  vero  che  i  Francesi  son  tutti  ladri  ?  "  *'  Tutti, 
no  :  ma  bona-parie." 

See  also  Pasquino  e  Marforio  (containing  original  Latin  and  Italian  texts  of  the 
most  famous  pasquinades),  8vo,  1861,  rare  (by  M.  Mary  Lafon),  reprinted  1877. 


THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY.  259 

St.  Denis  carrying  his  head  in  his  hands)  is  quoted  by  Gibbon,  and 
will  be  found  in  the  correspondence  of  his  friend  Mme.  Du  Deffand.* 

But  a  perfect  example — and  this  shall  be  the  last — of  the  evolution 
of  a  classical  bon  mot  is  supplied  by  that  comparison  of  Racine  and 
coffee  which  many  readers  expect  to  find  in  the  immortal  letters  of 
Mme.  de  S^vignd     It  was  made  in  three  stages  ^ — 

(i)  Madame  wrote  in  1672:  "Racine  writes  comedies  for  La 
Champmesle  (the  popular  actress),  not  for  the  generations  to  come,'^ 
and  suggests  that  he  has  not  much  in  him,  ending  with  a  cheer  for 
"  our  old  friend  Comeille."  And  four  years  later  she  observes  to  the 
unsympathetic  daughter :  "  So  you  have  quite  given  up  coffee  ?  So 
has  Mile,  de  Mdri." 

(2)  Eighty  years  later  Voltaire  (what  should  we  do  without  Vol- 
taire ?)  ran  the  two  phrases  together,  with  a  slight  variation  :  "  Mme. 
de  Sevignd  always  held  that  Racine  will  not  go  far  :  she  judged  of 
him  as  she  did  of  coffee,  of  which  she  used  to  say  people  would  soon 
get  tired." 

(3)  Upon  this  preparation  of  materials  enter  La  Harpe,  conven- 
tional dramatist  and  popular  lecturer  on  literature,  who  proceeds  to 
coin  an  immortal  phrase — at  least  it  is  scarcely  dead  yet — ^^  Racine 
passera  conime  le  cafeP 

But  we  must  not  wander  further  into  the  region  of  merely  social 
and  literary  "  good  things." 

Alas !  that  the  slightest  research  in  this  as  in  other  departments 
should  so  often  tend  to  convince  one  that  the  really  good  thing  is  too 
good  to  be  genuine,  or  that,  if  not  corrupted,  it  has  at  least  been 
borrowed  by  the  traditional  or  soi-disant  author.  It  was  ever  thus 
with  all  authors,  little  or  great,  and  at  all  periods  of  which  we  know 
anything.     No  need  to  tell  the  student  of  any  modem  edition  of 

1  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  ed.  1872,  v.  33.  DeffanJ,  Corres- 
pondance  inddile,  Colbum,    1810,  L.  xxiii. 

2  See  the  Notice  sur  Mme.  de  Sivign4  prefixed  to  the  edition  of  her  Letters 
12  vols.,  1818  (vol.  i.  p.  132). 


26o  THE  WIT  OF  HISTORY. 

Julius  Ccesar,  for  example,  how  little  Shakespeare  was  to  be  trusted 
to  poach  only  incidents  or  "  materials "  from  the  preserves  of  a 
North's  Amyot's  Plutarch  and  the  like.  And  every  schoolboy  (at 
least  every  schoolboy  who  has  read  Lalanne's  Curiosites  Litteraires) 
knows  that  the  finest  "  flash  of  genius  "  in  Molibre — 

"  Que  diable  allait-il  faire  dans  cette  galere  ?  " — 
is  a  barefaced  crib  from  Cyrano  de  Bergerac.^  In  these  inquiries 
authenticity,  like  historic  accuracy  in  the  other,  soon  vanishes  from  our 
straining  gaze.  To  appropriate  successfully  the  "good  things"  of 
another  man,  there  is  but  one  successful  principle,  and  that  is — what 
an  early  scholar  is  suspected  of  having  done  with  a  last  treatise  of 
Cicero — to  destroy  the  original.  Hence  the  true  maxim  for  the 
pirates  of  historic  wit — 

"  Pereant  qui  ante  nos  nostra  dixerunt." 

*  Just  as  the  paradox  about  "  talking  prose  without  knowing  it"  now  eternally 
associated  with  the  "  Bourgeois  gentil-homme,"  belongs  in  fact  to  the  Comte  de 
Soissons.     V.  Lettres  de  Sivigni  i^\xa&  12,  1686), 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


"  A,"  The  Broad,  Rev.  Sydney  Smith 

on  the  use  of,  243  «. 
Adder,  how  it  "stoppeth  its  ears,"  79  n. 
Alexander  VI.  (Pope),  death  of,   199, 

222 
Alexander  and  the  Pirate,  story  of,  79 
Alexander,  burial  of,  109 
Alexander,  histories  and  romances  of, 

85,  106  and  sq.  ;  their  popularity,  89 
Alfonsus,  Petrus,  his  Disciplina  Cleri- 

calis,  99  and  Chap.  iii.  {2)  passim. 
Amadis  de  Gaule,  3  ;  woodcut  from,  39 
Anastasius,  Lives  of  the  Popes,  colour 

of,  14 
Andreini's  Adamo,  10 
Angouleme,  Charles  de  Valois  Due  de, 

Mimoires  tris-particuliers,  180 
Annates  Francorum  Pithtti,  165  «. 
Apparition  of  Jean  le  Meiing,  16  «. 
Appian,  first  edition  of,  8 
"  Apres  nous  le  deluge,"  236 
Arabian   Nights  (the),  history  of,  90 ; 

Galland's  translation  of,  91 
Aretino,  Leonardo,  History  of  his  own 

Times,  2CX>  n. 
Aretino,  P.,  22;   attack  of  Perionius 

upon,  ib. 
Ariosto,  Ludovico,  Letters  of,  222 
Aristotle,  103  and  sq.  ;  Lay  of  105 


Armagnacs  and  De  Foix,  quarrels  of, 

58 
Amaut,  P.,  murder  of,  by  Count  de 

Foix,  SI 
Arnold,  Matthew,  Mixed  Essays,  cited, 

187  n. 
Ascham,  Roger,  Letters  of,  cited,  21 1  «. 
Asser,  Life  of  K.  Alfred,  169 
Astorga,  J.  L.  S.  de,  Poema  de  Alex- 

andro,  108 
Atomic  theory  of  book-collecting,  31 
Auctions  of  i8th  century,  21 
"Authorities"    of    history,    different 

attitudes  towards,  l^l  and  sq. 
"  Auxilium  egentium,    the,  112 


B. 


Baluze,   Estienne,  autc^raph  of,   18, 

anit  see  p.  30  «. 
Barlaam  andjosaphat,  story  of,  85,  88 
Baron  de  Fceneste  {le),  179  «. 
Bartholinus,T. ,  AniiquitatesDanita,  94 
Bartholomew,  the  pirate,  131 
Bassompierre,  memoirs  of,  cited,  190 
Bastille,  literary  influence  of  the,  193 
Battle,  ideal,  of  14th  century,  67  n, 
Bayle,  Lettres  choisies,  cited,  43,  179, 

194;  work  on  tolerance,  194  ». 


Note. — The  names  or  titles  of  books  (only)  are  in  italics. 


264 


INDEX 


Beaumarchais,      V  Affaire    Gazmamt, 

196;   Vie  privee,  &.C.,  de,  ib.  n. 
Belli, Gius.,6'£?«^/«  (1870),  cited,  258  n. 
Bembo,  Historice  Venetce,  9 
Benivieni's    Canzona    d'un   piagnone, 

Benjamin  of  Tudela,  Itinerarium  of, 

cited,  93 
Bentivoglio,  works  of,  published  by  the 

Elzevirs,  180  «. 
Bemi,  Francesco,  fate  of,  223 
Beza,  Letters  of,  157 
Bidpai,  Fables  of,  86,  99  ;    genealogy 

of,  87  n. 
Bindings,   taste    for,    16 ;     mediaeval, 

ib.  n. 
Bird  and  man,  fable  of,  113 
Blondel    and    Richard  Coeur-de-Lion, 

story  of,  252 
Boethius,  Plantin,  edition  of,  7 
Bolingbroke,  Notes  on  History,  cited, 

156 
Book-borrowing,  laws  of,  32 
Book-plate,  a  remarkable,  31 
Books,  prices  of;  modern  novels,  14; 

early  dramas,  18-19 
Bracciolini,    Poggio,   Historia  Floren- 

tina,  cited,  71  n. 
Brandebourg,  Mimoires  de,  200  n. 
Brantome,  Anecdote  of  Charles   IX,, 

254  ;  of  Henri  Quatre,  245 
Brasiliano,  132 

Browne's  Religio  Medici,  cited,  24 
Bruno,  Giordano,  Spaccio  delta  bestia, 

26 
Bruto,  G.  M.,  History  of  Florence,  28 
Bulls,  wild,  used  by  Spaniards  in  war, 

142  and  Tiote 
Burchard,  J.,  Diary  of,  199  n. 
Burnet's  History  of  his  own  Times,  34 
Byron,  expensive  volume  of,  14 


C. 


Calilah  va  Dimna,  87,  99 
Cambridge,  printing  at,  in  i6th  century, 

Camden  and  de  Thou,  relations  of,  30 


Camoens,  Lusiadas,  Didot  edition  of, 

202  n. 
Campanella,  poems  of,  25 
Catalogues,  comic  and  satirical,  237-8  n. 
Catholicon  of  Balbi,  cited,  100 
Ceccheregli's  Attioni  e  scntenze  di  Aless- 

andro  Aledici,  225 
Cecilius,    de     Mortibiis  persecutorum, 

165 
Cellini,  Benvenuto,  Memoirs  of,  198-9 
Cent  Nouvelles  Nouvelles  (ed.  Le  Roux 

de  Lincy),  78 
Chapuy,  Hist,  de  Navarre,  63  n. 
Charles  II.,  anecdote  concerning,  233 
Charles  V.,  his  visit  to  Rome,  215,  217 

(and   Chap.  VI.  passim) ;    relations 

with  Pope  Paul  III.,  211,  215,  223, 

225  ;    alleged  practical  joke  on  the 

Landgrave  of  Hesse,  240 
Charles  IX.  and  the  Massacre  of  St. 

Bartholomew's  Eve,  254 
Chasles,    Philarete,     Paradoxe    contre 

Ciceron,  161 
Chastillon,    Gautier  de,    his    Alexan- 

dreis,  108 
Chinese  comedy,  described  by  Acosta, 

120 
Choisy,  I'Abbe,  192  ;  Memoirs  of,  193 
Cicero,  letters  of,  161-2 
Classics,  early  editions  of,  8,  38 
Clenarti  Epistolce,  Plantin  ed.  of,  7 
Cletus,  Pope,  scandal  concerning,  30 
Coad's  Memorial,  cited,  129  «. 
Colliber's  Critical  History  of  English 

Sea  Affairs,  135,  147 
Columbus,     Expedition    to  the  West 

Indies,  1 25  and  sq. 
Comus  of  Dupuy,  10 
"  Cosa    fatta    capo   ha,"   history  and 

meaning  of,  256-7  ;  record  of,  by  G. 

Villani  and  Malespini  and  Bandello, 

257  «. 
Courtilz  de  Sandras,  spurious  memoirs 

by,  196 
Crebillon,  CI.  P.,  22 
Crinitro,  Pietro,  anecdote  recorded  by, 

250 
Cromwell,  Henry,  on  the  peopling  of 

Jamaica  with  Irish,  129  «. 
Cymbalum  mundi,  24 


INDEX. 


265 


D. 


Dante,  Epistole  di  (1842),  165  n. 

D'Argenson,  Mimoires  cited,  193,  245 

n Artagnan,  Mimoires  de,  193  n. 

Darwin,  Charles,  treatment  of  bulky 
volumes  by,  31 

D'Aubigne,  Th.  Agrippa,  Histoire 
secrete,  Sec,  178  and  sf.,  238  n. 

D'Avallon,  Vie  privie  &"€.,  de  Beau- 
mar  chais,  196  n. 

Davis,  J.,  pirate,  135 

De  Cayet,  Palma  V.,  Chronologies  of, 

173  «•  (3) 

De  Clos,  Bernard,  remark  on  Ecclesias- 
tical councils,  218 
D'Espaigne,  practical  joke  of,  described 

by  Froissart,  56 
D'Estissac,   Geoffrey,   207,   210,   220, 

221 
De  Laporte,  Memoirs  of,  191 
Delibatio  hisloricE  Africana,  164 
De  Sade,   Memoirs  of  Petrarch,   73, 

156 
De  Stael,  Mme.,  "bon  mot"  of,  on 

the  pre-Revolutionary  age,  236 
De  Thou,  34  (and  see  Camden) 
Devices,  &c.  of  printers :  Bevilacqua, 
176;  Elzevir,  180;  Estieime,   Ant., 
40 ;    Gryphius,  Ant.   and  Seb. ,  7  ; 
Gryphius,  Sebastian,  221 ;  Morel,  G., 
36  ;  Oporinus,  8  ;  Plantin,  7  ;  Richer, 

174  ;  de  Sabio,  17,  18  ;  de  Toumes, 
J.,  50;  ViottoSeth,  29 

Directoritim    vita    humana,    76,     85, 

87  «.,  88 
Divorce  Saiirique  (le),  175 
Divoriio  Celeste  (il)  of  Ferrante  Pal- 

lavicino,  27 
Dog,  weeping.  Apologue  of  the,  in 
D(^s,  wild,  used  by  Spaniards  in  W. 

Indies,  134 
Doria,  Andrea,  209 ;  visits  Rome,  218 
Du  Bellay,  Jean,  Cardinal,  patron  of 

Rabelais,  208 
Du  Guesclin,  chronicle  of,  72,  171 
Dumouriez,  classical  oration  of,  242  «. 
Duvemet,  T.  J.  Life  of  Voltairei  195 
Dutch  Press,  in  17th  century,  impor- 
tance of,  193 


Dyalogus    creaturarum    (1480),    84; 
woodcut  from,  99 


Earle's  World  displayed,  187 

Early  printed  books,  5,  6,  &c. ;  works 

of  mythol(^y,  84-5 
Eddas,  mythological,  94 
Editions,  early,  delusive  attractions  of, 

37 
Eginhart,  biography  of  Charlemagne, 

168 
Elzevir,  works  published  by  the,  lion., 

190 
English  trade,  &c.,  Papal  Bull  affect- 
ing, 219 
**  Enoch,"  The  Book  of,  99 
Epigrammata     et     Poematia     (l2mo, 

1590),  36 
Epoch-making  books,  39,  40 
Ercilla  y  Zu&iga,  Araucana,  202 
Estienne,  Henry,  tracts  of,  43-4 
Eugene,  Prince,  remark  on  the  House 

of  Savoy,  238 
Evelyn,  John,  Life  of  Mrs.  Godolphin, 

189  n. 
"  Ex-Librist,"  singular  conduct  of  an, 

31 
Exquemelin's  History  of  the  Buccanters 
of  America,  144  «.  ;  plate  from,  122 


F. 


Fabliaux,  general  impropriety  of,  79 
Fabroni,    Lettere    di  uomini  illustri, 

200  n. 
Fairfax,  Lord,  Short  Memorials  of,  185 
Fauchet's     Origines    de     la     kaigtie 

Franfcuse  &'c.,  252 
Ferrara,  Duke  of,  difference  with  Pope 

Paul  III.,  225 
Feudal  times,  ferocity  of,  67,  7 1  &  tq. 
Fiction   {see  Ch.    III.) ;  Italian,  82 ; 

medixval  works  of,  84 
Fictitious  discourses,  &c.,  in   History, 

classical  origin  of,  241,  247 
First  editions  of  mod.  novels,  14  and  sq. ; 

of  Shakspearian  plays,  18,  19 


266 


INDEX. 


Flechier's  Mem.  sur  les  grands  jours 

d' Auvei-gne,  200  n. 
Foix,   Gaston  Phoebus,  Count  de,  49, 

and   Ch.  II.  passim ;   his  work   on 

Hunting,  53-4 
Forgaill,      Dalian,      Elegy      on      St. 

Colomb,  95  n. 
Fouilloux,  J.  de,  his   Venerie,  54 
Fournier  (Ed. ),  L' esprit  daits  thistoire, 

234  n,  (and  Ch.  VII.  passim) 
Fournier,    Fr.     J.,     Dictionnaire    de 

Bibliographie,  9  n. 
Fox  and  wolf,  Fable  of,  no 
Franco,  Nicolo,  22,  28 
Frederick  the   Great,  historical  works 

of,  2CX) 

French  chroniclers,  171  ;  memoir 
writers,  1 73  {and  see  Ch.  V.  passim) ; 
tracts,  41,  44,  46 

Froissart  {see  Ch.  II.  passim),  his  ac- 
count of  the  Comte  de  Foix,  53  and 
sq. ;  his  greyhounds,  54 ;  edition  of 
his  chronicles  printed  by  Jan  de 
Toumes,  49,  50 
Fugger,  J.  J.,  library  of,  21 1  n.  ;  a 
volume  presented  by,  ib.  n. 


G. 


Gale,  T.,  Historim  Poeticce  Scriptores, 

81 
Galland's  Arabian  Nights,  92  ;    Contes 

Indiennes,    dr'c,  93 ;    Orienta/iatta, 

93.  113 
Gascons   (in  14th  century),    allies    of 

English,  69 
Gellius,  Aulus,  163 
Gesta  JDei per  Francos  (fol.  1614),  usual 

colour  of,  14 
Gesta  Romanorum,  %\,  116 
Gibbon  (on  the    Fables    of  Bidpai), 

cited,  87  «. 
Giovio,  Paolo,  Bruto's  strictures  upon, 

29  ;    loss  and  recovery  of  the  MSS. 

of  his  history,  34 ;    his  disregard  of 

veracity,  244 
Giraldus,   Cambrensis,  first  edition  of 

his  Itinerary,  83  n. 
Golden  Legend,  The,  84  «. 


Gondomar,     animosity      of,      against 

Raleigh,  146 
Gower's  Confessio  Amantis,  78,  99 
Gray's  Descent  of  Odin,  Ssfc. ,  94 
Gregory  XI.  (Pope)  intervenes  in  the 

De  Foix  tragedy,  65 
Guicciardini,  Francesco,  history  of,  28 
Guicciardini,       Ludovico,      historical 

works  of,  176 
Guiche,  Comte  de.  Memoirs  of,  236 
Guise,  Henri,  Due  de,  Memoirs  oi,  181 
Guyon,  Diverses  Lemons,  cited,  250 


H. 


Halli\vell-Phillips,  J.  O.,  used  to 
"  pluck"  his  books,  31 

Hamilton,  Memoirs  of  the  Comte  de 
Gramont,  189 

Henault,  President,  Abregd  Chrono 
logique,  239  n. 

Henry  III.  (of  France),  collection  of 
tracts  concerning,  175,  180 

Henry  IV. ,  observation  of,  at  battle  of 
Coutras,  245 

Herbert,  Lord,  of  Cherbury,  auto- 
biography of,  181 

Herodotus,  note  on,  160 

Historical  pamphlets,  "  recueil  fac- 
tice"  of,  178  n. 

History,  different  manners  of  writing, 
240 ;  dangers  of  a  classical  style, 
241-2 ;  of  the  "  flowery  "  or  epigram- 
matic, 243-4 

Hole,  Rich.,  Remarks  on  the  Voyages 
of  Sinbad,  Ss'c,  g2n.,  97 

Hooft's  history.  Lord  Hardwicke's  re- 
mark on,  12 

Hotman,  Fr. ,  tracts  of,  43  ;  de  Furori- 
bus  Gallicis,  44 

Howell,  J. ,  Epistolce  Ho-eliance,  cited, 
146-7  n. 

Hume's  History  of  his  own  Life,  cited, 
184  n. 

Hutchinson  (Col.),  Life  of,  187 


I. 


//  faut  vivre,  genuine  authorship  of, 
245 


INDEX. 


267 


Impostors,  The  Three,  24 
India,  early  epic  poetry  of,  96 
Indices  of  i6th  century  books,  curious 

nature  of,  176 
Interest  (in  Books,  q.v.\  contemporary, 

36    and    sq.  ;    precedent,    10,    11  ; 

local,  12 
"Intrigue,"  specimen  of  an,  225 
Irishman,  inquisitive,  story  of  the,  94 
Isidore,  St.,  Etymologia  of,  79  n. 


Jacobus  de  Vitriaco,  106 
Jamaica,  condition  of,  in  17th  century, 

129  ;    exportation   of  Irish  to,  ib.  ; 

emigration  of  Scotch  to,  130  «. 
James  II.,  apophthegm  attributed  to, 

236 
John,  St. ,  of  Damascus,  88 
Joinville,  Chronicle  of,  cited,  1 70 
Julian,  the  emperor,  letters  of,  157 
Julius    Caesar,     Cicero's    account    of, 

162-3 

K. 

"Kill  them  all,  God  will  know  his 

own,"  252 
King,  Dr.   W.,  Anecdotes  of  his  own 

time,  234  n. 
Koran,  the,  81 


La  Baume,  account  of  the  retreat  from 

Moscow,  160 
La  Boetie,  Le  Contr'iin,  43  n. 
Lactantius  on  the  shape  of  the  globe, 

126  n. 
"  La  garde  meurt,"  &c.,  232 
"  La  mort  sans  phrase,"  257 
Lascaris,  Const.,  N.  de  Sabio's  edition 

of  his  grammar,  17 
Las  Casas,  Account  of  the  destruction 

of  the  West  Indies,  128,  145. 
Latini,  Tesoretto  of,  11 
Lauder's  reflections  on  Milton,  1 1 


L'Ecluse,  editor  of  Sully's  Memoirs,  175 

"  L'Etat  c'est  moi,"  235 

Leti,  Gregorio,  Nipotismo  di  Roma  and 

other  works  of,  223  n. 
L'Hopital,  Epistola,  203 
Libanius  the  sophist,  166 
Ligne,  Prince  de.  Letters  of,  238  n. 
Local  printing,  12 
Lombardus,   Petrus,   Sentences  cli^  8 1 

and«. 
Louis  VI.,  anecdote  of,  235  «. 
Louis  XL ,  humour  of,  239 
Louis    XIV.,    anecdotes    concerning 

235-6  and  note,  239  n. 
Lucian,  large  bird  described  by,  93  n. 
Luxury  in  14th  century,  71 


M. 


Macaulay,  memoirs  cited  by,  183, 
186  ;  style  of,  243 

Macrobius,  163 

Mahabhhrata,  96  n. 

Malespini,  Novelle  of,  82 

Malespini,  R.,  Chronicle  of,  257  «. 

Mandeville,  Sir  J.,  Voiage  and  Tra- 
vaile  of,  202 

Man,  lion,  and  serpent,  story  of,  98 

Manuscripts,  discovery  of,  at  Renais- 
sance, 24 

Manuzio,  Aldo,  on  "  prohibited 
books,"  27  and  sq. 

Mariana,  on  the  discovery  of  the  West 
Indies,  &c.,  127 

Maria  Theresa  ("moriamur  pro  rege 
nostro,  &c"),  248 

Marino,  G.  B.,  Letters  of,  158  n. 

Marmier,  X.,  Ltttres  sur  VIslandt,  95 

Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Eve, 
accounts  of,  44  ;  and  see  Charles  IX. 

Maximilian  the  Great,  celebrated  letter 
of,  157 

"Maymundthe  Lazy,"  stones  of,  117 
and  sq. 

M.  D.  L.  R.,  Mimoirts  dt,  \^\  n. 

Medici,  Alexander,  book  of  anecdotes 
concerning,  set  Cecchcregli ;  assassi- 
nation of,  199;  relations  with  Charles 
v.,  212,  215,  224 


268 


INDEX. 


Medici,  Hippolyto,  poisoned,  223 
Medici,  Lorenzo,  poems  of,  33 
Mimoires  de  Vestat  de  France,  43,  1 78, 

«.,  254 
Menot,  Michel,  sermons  of,  89  n. 
Michel,  Fr.,  Le  Pays  Basque,  ciitd,  168 
Milinda     (King    of    Bactria),     Ques- 
tions of,  ()"] 
"Miscellanies,"  literary,  &c.,  162 
Molay,  Jacques  (1314),  anecdote  con- 
cerning, 249  and  7iote 
Monmouth,  Geoffrey  of,  his  Historia 

Britonum,  83 
Monstrelet,      The     Commoner's    Com- 
plaint, 70 
Montaigne,  Essays,    cited,  43  ;  reflec- 
tions on  "  Memoirs,"  180 
Montesquieu,  Lettres  familiires,  cited, 

134  «.,  157  «. 
"Moralisation,"    mediaeval,    specimen 

of,  117 
Morgan,  Sir  H.,  pirate,  136 
Mortlake,  early  boatrace  at,  159 
Motteville,    Mdme.    de.    Memoirs  of, 

cited,  181,  190,  193 
Muralt,  Lettres  sur  les  Anglois,  ^c, 

234  n. 
Mythology,  mediaeval,  chief  sources  of, 
78  and  sq. 


N. 


Nilus  (the  ascetic),  Letters  of,  164 

' '  Nipoti "  of  the   Popes,    222-3    ^"<3 

note 
Nonius  Marcellus,  anecdote  preserved 

by,  79 
North  Briton,  edition  of,  38 
North,   Roger,  Life    of    Lord  Keeper 

Guildford,  187 
"Novels,"  Italian  collections  of,  82 
Novels  (modem),  prices  of,  14 


O. 


Obscurity,  mediaeval,  examples  of, 
95«.,  96 

Ochino,  B.,  works  of,  24 

Oporinus,  J.,  device  of,  8 

Orientaliana,  see  Galland 

Original  Letters  (8vo,  1755),  cited,  134 

Orleans,  Duke  of,  catalogue  of  his 
library  (1427),  16  n.  ;  Duchess  of. 
Bonnet's  defence  of,  ib.  ;  (Ch.  Eliz.) 
Duchess  of,  her  Memoirs,  192 ; 
Louis  d'Orleans,  fanatical  tract  by,  44 

Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  mythological 
importance  of,  78  «.,  80 

Oxford,  disturbances  at,  169,  1 70  «. 


Naples,  memoirs  concerning,  181 
Naudceana  and  Patiniana,  cited,  27 
Naunton,  Sir  R.,  Fragmenta  Regalia, 

182 
Navarre,  Charles  the  Bad,  King  of,  59, 

63  n.  ;  see  Chapuy 
Navarre,  Marguerite  de  Valois,  Queen 

of,  her  Memoirs,  1 74 
Negation,  predominance  of,  in  modern 

histories,  153 
Nelson,    Admiral,    remark  upon    his 

uniform  at  battle  of  Trafalgar,  246 

and  note  ;  his  signals  to  the  fleet,  ib. 
Newburgh,  William  of,  his  reflections 

on  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  83 
•'News  "  (the),  apologue  of,  118 
Nichols,  Forty  Years  of  American  Life, 

161  «. 


Pagitt's  Heresiography,  189 

Panama,  capture  of,  141  and  sq. 

Pantcha  Tantrum,  mythological  works 
derived  from,  86  «.  ;  see  ^^  Bidpai  " 

Paper,  German  (of  17th  century),  dis- 
coloured, 14 

Paris,  Matthew,  cited,  24,  159 

"Paris  vaut  bien  une  messe,"  247; 
parallel  reflection  on  England,  ib. 

Pasquier,  Estienne,  his  Recherches  de 
la  France,  54  n.  (2),  1 73 ;  his  at- 
tacks on  the  Jesuits,  1 73  n. 

Pasquino  and  Marforio,  colloquy  of, 
258  «. 

Pastissier  Fratifois  (le),  20 

Paul  III.  (Pope),  Ch.  VI.  passim  ;  his 
poverty,  211  ;  alarmed  by  visit  from 
Alexander    Medici,    223 ;    relations 


INDEX. 


269 


with  Charles  V.,  211- 15,  223-25; 
with  the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  225 

Pedro  the  Cruel,  barbarities  of,  72 

Pejyys's  Diary,  cited,  131  ;  latest  edition 
of,  154-S 

* '  Personality  in  history,"  234 

Petrarch,  vanity  of,  156 

Philip  Augustus,  anecdote  concerning, 
251 

Philip  of  Valois,  apophth^;m  attributed 
to,  244 

**  Pieces  of  eight,"  value  of,  131  k. 

Pier-Luigi  (Farnese),  221 

Plantin  press,  7,  8  ;  device,  9 

Platina's  Lives  of  the  Popes,  29  ;  auto- 
biographical passage  in,  218  n 

Pliny  the  younger,  letters  of,  160-1  ; 
MS.  of  letter  to  Trajan,  161 

Ploetz,  Karl,  Epitome  of  History,  153  «. 

*'  Poison  for  the  Scotch,"  38 

Poisoning,  practice  of,  in  Italy,  222-3 

Political  tracts,  43 

Pollio,  Vedius,  anecdote  of  the  bar- 
barity of,  250 

Porto  Bello,  capture  of,  138  ;  plate  of, 
122 

Premier  pas  qui  coiite  (ce  n'est  que  le), 
258 

Procopius,  Anecdota  of,  166 ;  first 
edition  of,  167 

Prognostications,  214 

Puritanism,  Literature  of,  185,  187 

"  Pyrenees,"  II  n'y  a  plus  de,  238 


QUERLON,  "  supercherie  litt^raire  "  of, 

258 
Quintus  Curtius,  his  historical  romance, 

106  ;  and  see  Alexander 
Quixote,  Don,  39 


R. 

Rabbit,  Brer,  ingenuity  of,  1 1 1 
Rabelais  (Ch.  ^\., passim).  Letters  of, 

207  ;    decision  of   his   case  in    the 

Papal  Court,  210,  219 


"  Racine  passera  comme  le  caf^," 
259 

Raleigh,  Sir  W.,  his  expedition  to 
\V.  Indies,  146 

Ramayana,  96  n. 

Ramsay,  Allan,  Poems  of,  used  as  evi- 
dence, 39 

Ransom  (of  prisoners  in  14th  century), 
SS-6,  58-9  n. 

Rarity  of  books  caused  by^early  pro- 
duction, 5,  6  ;  limited  production,  13  ; 
beauty  of  binding,  &c.,  16  ;  locality  of 
printing,  12,  13;  historical  interest, 
II;  literary  interest,  10  ;  fashion  of  the 
day,  14,  21  ;  destruction  by  fire,  &c, 
20  ;  by  wear  and  tear,  ib.  ;  suppres- 
sion, 21  and  sq.  ;  corruption  of  text, 
30,  34 ;  mutilation  during  first  im- 
pression, 33 

Recueil  de  piices  servant  b,  thist.  d« 
Henry  III.,  &'c.,  175,  180 

"  Recueil  Factice,"  specimen  of,  45, 
178   ti. 

Reresby,  Sir  J.,  Memoirs  of,  186  and 
note 

Keveillematin  des  Franfois,  &'c.,  44 

Revolution,  French,  Official  List  of  Per' 
sons  guif/otined  during,  41,  &c. 

Rheims,  La  Chronique  de  Pains  (ed. 
1837),  252  n. 

Richard  I.,  fable  related  by,  98; 
anecdote  of,  252 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  his  "robe  rooge," 
&c.,  24s 

Richelieu,  Mazarin,  dfc,  Tailtau  d« 
la  vie  de,  184  «. 

Robber  and  the  moonbeam,  fable  of 
the,  114 

Robinson,  Admiral  Sir  H. ,  Sea-Drifts 
246-7 

Rochefort,Comtede,  spurious  memoirs 
of,  191  «. 

Rochefoucauld,  Due  de.  Memoirs  of, 
191 

Roland,  romances  of,  168;  Ckamsom 
de  Roland,  169  it. 

Rome  (in  1536),  208  ;  destruction  of 
buildings  in,  for  the  entry  of  Charles 
v.,  215,  217 

Royal  acts,  edicts,  &c,  40,  41 


270 


INDEX. 


Rulhiere,   Anecdotes    of    the    Russian 

Revolution,   197 
Ruskin,  J.,  Poems  of,  15 


S. 


Sabio,  Nic  de,  edition  of  Grammar  of 

Lascaris,  17 
Sadolet,  Letters  of,  7»  209 
Sainte-Palaye,  Memoires  sur  la  Cheva- 

lerie,  54  n. 
Sal vian  of  Marseilles,  165 
Sandebar,  Parables  of,  86 
Satire  Mejtippde,  44 
"Saulem,"  a  charm,  115 
Savonarola,  Revelations  of,  36-7 
Saxo  Grammaticus,  Story  of  Hamlet, 

159 
Saxon  Chronicle,  curious  entry  in,  159 
Scot,  Lewis,  pirate,  135 
Sects,    Religious,    of     17th    century, 

189  n. 
Segni,  Istorie  Florentine,  cited,  222 
Servetus,  tracts  of,  23 
Seven  Sages,  The  (Italian  version  of), 

85-6 
Seventeenth  century,  note  on  the,  184  ; 

Carlyle  on  the  literature  of,  185 
Severus,  Sulpicius,  164  «. 
Sevigne,  Letters  of  (ed.  1720),  34,  184, 

259 
Shakespeare's  Richard  LI.,  cited,  62 
Shakspearian  plays,  prices  of,  18,  19 
Sidonius  ApoUinaris,  Letters  of,  163 
Sieyes,    Abbe,   famous    tract    of,   46 ; 

alleged  remark  of,  257 
Sixteenth  century,  an  age  of  reproduc- 
tion, 36  ;  peculiar  interest  of,  177 
Sleidan's  Commentaries,  33 
Socrates  (pseudo),  116 
Somerville,  Dr. ,  memoirs  of,  cited,  39, 

152 
Sonnius,  Michel,  device  used  by,  164  ; 

rare  edition  of  Pasquier's  Recherches, 

173  «. 
Sorbin,  Ant.,  de  Saincte-Foy,  Vie  de 

Charles  LX.,  254 
Spectator,  The,  cited,  26 


?>^&nc€%Atiecdotes,  cited,  249;/. 
Spence,  T.,  anti-Hanoverian  satires  of, 

45 
Strozzi,  Filippo,  intrigues  of,   211-12, 

224 
Sully's  Memoirs    (ed.     1649),    Patin's 

remark   on,    35 ;    singular   form   of, 

175 
Surtees,  romances  by,  14 
Sylvester    II.    obliged     to    borrow    a 

Caesar,  i 
Synesius,  Letters  of,  164  «• 


Tabourot,  Estienne,  210  «. ;  Bigar- 
rures  of,  cited,  ib. 

Tacitus,  early  editions  of,  6 

Teach,  "  Blackbeard,"  145 

Tennysons,  poems  of  the,  15 

"  Tout  est  perdu  fors  I'honneur,"  258 

Tracts  and  pamphlets,  41-46 ;  of  i6tb 
century,  43  ;  of  1 7th  century,  42, 
45  ;  two  volumes  of  miscellaneous, 
45  n.  ;  in  verse,  202 

Trissino's  Italia  Liberata,  mutilation 
of  text  of,  33 

"Trivium"  and  "  Quadrivium,"  lOl 

Turks,  great  defeat  of,  213 

Turpin  (pseudo),  Historia  Caroli 
Magni,  168  ;  French  texts  of,  169 

Typography,  early,  5  and  sq.,  36  ;  sen- 
timental effect  of,  36 ;  bad  but 
interesting,  42 


U. 


UsK,    Adam   of,   describes   a    riot   at 
Oxford,  170  n. 


V. 


Valerius    Maximus,  wrongly   cited 

by  Villon,  79 
Van  Tromp,  Martin,  147 
Vaux-Cemay,  P.  de,  Historia  Albigen- 

sium,  253 


INDEX. 


271 


VedaSy  note  on,  96  n. 

"  Vengeur,"  sinking  of  the,  233 

Venice,  Squitinio  della  Liberth,  Veneta, 
42 

Venner,  portrait  of,  188 

Villani,  chronicles  of  the,  171  ;  Gio- 
vanni, cited,   171  and  257  n. 

Villon's  story  of  Alexander  and  the 
pirate,  79  m. 

VinlandiiE  Antiquce  Historian  20I  n. 

"Virelets,"  54 

Virgil,  first  edition  of  his  works,  38 ; 
the  medijeval  Virgil,  103 

Vogt,  Catalogtis  librorum  variorum,  5 

Voltaire,  157  n.  (3) ;  Lettres  sur  les 
Anglois,  194  ;  Lettres  incites  (1818), 
195-6;  FiV/riWe  fl^<r  (by  Duvemet), 
19s  ;  portrait  of,  ib.  ;  Candide,  237 
n.  ;  historical  inventions  of,  239  ; 
intolerance  of  those  of  other  people, 
ib.  ;  note  to  the  Henriade,  anecdote 
concerning  Charles  IX.,  254;  epi- 
gram on  Racine,  259 

Voyages  and  Travels,  valuable  collec- 
tions of,  201  n. 

Voyages,  early,  35-6 

W. 

Wales,  Prince  and  Princess  of,  tact 
and  courtesy  shown  by,  59  «. 


Walpole,  Horace,  remarks  on  manner 
of  writing  history,  241  ;  Letters  and 
Memoirs,  &c.,  of,  197-8  ;  letters  to 
Mann,  examination  paper  on,  237  «. 

Walton's  Complete  Angler,  19 

Wamefrid,  Paul,  History  of  the  Lom- 
bards, 84  n. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  observation  at- 
tributed to,  232 

Wei  wood's  Memoirs,  184 

Wiclif,  Dialogues  of,  26 

William  of  Orange,  speech  by,  on 
landing  in  England,  249  «. 

Wincelaus,  King  of  Bohemia,  ballads 
of,  55 

Winchester,  eccentric  Marquis  of,  189 

IVit^s  Commonwealth,  20 

Wraxall,  Sir  N.  W.,  Historical  (and 
other)  Memoirs  of,  248  note 


X. 


Xenophon,  160 


YvAiN,   son  of  Comte  de  Foix,  60, 
61-2  ;  tragical  death  of,  65 


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